A Burmese court on Monday (December 6th) sentenced former civilian government chief Aung San Suu Kyi to four years in prison for inciting public unrest and violating health rules related to Covid-19, the agency told France-Presse (AFP) a spokesperson for the junta.
The Nobel Peace Prize “Was sentenced to two years in prison under section 505 (b) and two years in prison under the Natural Disasters Act”Zaw Min Tun told AFP.
Former President Win Myint was given the same sentence, he said, adding that they would not be taken to jail for the time being. “They will have to face other charges from the places where they are currently staying” in the capital, Naypyidaw, he added, without giving further details.
76-year-old Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained since generals overthrew her government in the early hours of 1er February, thus ending a brief democratic parenthesis in Burma.
Multiplication of charges
The junta has regularly piled up the charges against it, including violation of the law on official secrets, corruption and electoral fraud. She faces decades in prison if convicted on all counts.
Hearings are held in camera. Neither the junta nor the official press release information about the trials against Aung San Suu Kyi, whose supporters denounce political maneuvering. Suu Kyi’s lawyers were recently banned from speaking to the media.
“The heavy sentences imposed on Aung San Suu Kyi on the basis of these bogus accusations are the latest example of the military’s determination to eliminate all opposition and to suffocate freedoms in Burma”, wrote the human rights NGO Amnesty International in a statement.
According to a local human rights NGO, more than 1,300 people have been killed and more than 10,000 arrested as part of the crackdown on dissent since the coup.