The Burmese junta continues to charge Aung San Suu Kyi: the former leader, overthrown by the February 2021 coup, was sentenced on Wednesday to an additional six years in prison, for corruption, in a river trial denounced as political by the international community.
The 77-year-old 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner was sentenced to “two three-year prison terms“Which were confused, told AFP a source close to the case, which means that she must spend three years behind bars for these two cases. Aung San Suu Kyi”is in good health. His lawyers will appeal as for the other cases“, indicated this source.
Risk of 120 years in prison
She was found guilty of accepting $550,000 in bribes from local businessman Maung Weik. A state broadcaster last year aired a video confession of the businessman confessing that he gave $550,000 over several years to Aung San Suu Kyi. He handed out money to officials from his party, the National League for Democracy, to help his business, he said.
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Arrested at the time of the putsch, which ended a decade of democratic transition in Burma, the ousted leader was placed in solitary confinement in a prison in Naypyidaw at the end of June, hence her trial, which started more than a year, continues behind closed doors. She had already been sentenced to 23 years in prison for various reasons, including electoral fraud and corruption. In all, she faces more than 120 years behind bars.
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Negotiation promises
Aung San Suu Kyi, who claims her innocence, is also accused in five other corruption cases, which could increase her total of years of imprisonment. Many voices denounce a judicial harassment which would be based on political motives, with the aim of definitively removing the daughter of the hero of independence, big winner of the elections of 2015 and 2020. Several of her relatives have been sentenced to heavy penalties. A former member of his party sentenced to death, Phyo Zeya Thaw, was executed at the end of July.
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“These sham trials against her and her allies cannot be taken seriously, despite the legal veneer“Reacted a spokesperson for Amnesty International to AFP. “Burma’s military is piling false accusation upon false accusation on Aung San Suu Kyi, part of a wider campaign to lock down and silence all opponents“, Continued the human rights NGO. The junta defends itself from these accusations and even promises to open negotiations with Aung San Suu Kyi once her trial is over.
“Reform”
The army also hopes to hold elections in the summer of 2023, as soon as the country is “peaceful and stable“, according to its leader Min Aung Hlaing who also announced a “reformof the electoral system. Since the coup that plunged the country into a bloody conflict, more than 2,300 civilians have been killed by the security forces, according to a count by a local NGO. The junta, which accuses its opponents, has more than 3,900.
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The United Nations, which has denounced “growing evidenceof crimes against humanity targeting women and children, reported in early October that 1.3 million civilians remained displaced due to hostilities. Isolated on the international scene, Burma was not invited to the next summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in November in Cambodia.