#Myanmar #junta #court #sentences #Suu #Kyi #years #prison #corruption
A junta court in Myanmar on Monday sentenced ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi to six years in prison on corruption charges, according to a source close to the case.
Suu Kyi, 77, has been jailed since the generals’ coup and overthrow of her government on February 1 last year, ending the brief spell of democracy in the Southeast Asian country.
She has since faced a range of charges, including breach of official secrecy, corruption and voter fraud, and faces decades in prison if convicted on all counts.
Suu Kyi was sentenced to “six years in prison” on four anti-corruption charges, said the source, who asked not to be identified because she was not authorized to speak to the media.
She appears in good health and has not testified following her most recent sentencing, the source added.
The Nobel laureate has already been sentenced to 11 years in prison for corruption, anti-military hate speech, violating Covid-19 rules and violating a telecommunications law.
Journalists were banned from attending the court hearings and Suu Kyi’s lawyers were banned from speaking to the media.
The coup sparked widespread protests and riots, which the military sought to use force to quell.
According to a local monitoring group, the raid killed more than 2,000 civilians and arrested around 17,000.
– Locked up in prison –
Suu Kyi has been the face of Myanmar’s democratic hopes for more than 30 years, but her previous six-year sentence already meant she is likely to miss the elections the junta says it plans to hold next year.
In June she was transferred from house arrest to a prison in the capital, Naypyidaw, where her trial will continue in an on-site courthouse.
She remains in prison in the capital, her contact with the outside world limited to brief pre-trial meetings with lawyers.
Many of their political allies have also been arrested since the coup, and a prime minister has been sentenced to 75 years in prison.
Last month, the junta fueled renewed international condemnation when it executed Phyo Zeya Thaw, a former National League for Democracy (NLD) MP for violating anti-terror laws.
Suu Kyi learned of the execution at a pre-trial hearing, a source with knowledge of the matter said, but has not yet commented on the matter.
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