Monday, January 10, 2022
Because of having walkie-talkies
Suu Kyi has to go to prison for four years
Aung Suu Kyi is sentenced to four years in prison for illegally owning walkie-talkies and violating corona rules. The 76-year-old is currently being held in a secret location. The sentence could only be the beginning, Myanmar’s de facto head of government faces decades of imprisonment.
A court has sentenced the disempowered de facto Prime Minister Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar to four years in prison. As the AFP news agency learned from circles familiar with the case, the 76-year-old was found guilty of illegal import and possession of walkie-talkies and one of violating corona regulations in two cases.
It is unclear, however, whether she will actually be sentenced to prison or remain under house arrest. The special court in the capital Naypyidaw had postponed the verdicts against the Nobel Peace Prize laureate several times. At the beginning of December, Suu Kyi was sentenced to four years in prison for inciting rioting against the military and violating corona requirements. Shortly afterwards, the military junta reduced the prison term to two years.
Suu Kyi was deposed after a coup in February 2021, and the now ruling military junta covered her with a series of allegations. In addition to the cases now being negotiated, she is also charged with corruption – which can be punished with 15 years in prison – and for violating the law on official secrets. The judiciary also accuses her of electoral fraud. You face decades of imprisonment.
Junta brutally suppresses resistance
There is only sparse information about the health status of the 76-year-olds and the progress of the processes. Journalists were banned from attending the court hearings and Suu Kyi’s lawyers were prevented from speaking to the media. Suu Kyi is being held in a secret location and is almost completely cut off from the outside world.
Observers and human rights experts speak of a show trial and suspect that the junta wants to silence the popular politician in this way in the long term. Suu Kyi had been under house arrest for a total of 15 years. In 2016 she became the de facto head of government.
The Southeast Asian country has been falling into chaos since the coup. The junta uses force to suppress any resistance. According to the prisoners’ aid organization AAPP, more than 1,400 people have already been killed and around 11,000 arrested.