Australian Adviser Turnell bags jail term in Myanmar

An Australian professor and former adviser to Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been jailed for three years by military authorities.

Sean Turnell nell was detained in Yangon in February 2021, days after the junta arrested Ms Suu Kyi and overthrew her elected government in a coup.

Along with Ms Suu Kyi, he was charged with breaching the Official Secrets Act – which they both denied.

They were sentenced on Thursday in trials criticised by rights groups.

“Australia also said it rejected the court’s ruling,” noting their citizen had been tried in a closed court run by the junta.

“The Australian Government has consistently rejected the charges against Professor Turnell during the more than 19 months he had been unjustly detained by the Myanmar military regime,” said Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong.

“We will continue to take every opportunity to advocate strongly for Professor Turnell until he has returned to his family in Australia.”

On Thursday, Ms Suu Kyi was also sentenced on the secrecy charges to another three years in jail. She has already been sentenced to more than two decades in prison on over a dozen counts brought by the military government – with several charges still remaining.

If convicted on all charges, she could face almost 200 years in prison.

The details of the offences allegedly committed by Mr Turnell are “not publicly known.” At his trial in August, he strongly denied breaking the state secrets law – which carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in jail.

The Australian economist had been a well known figure in Myanmar’s public life, after moving to the country in 2017 to advise Ms Suu Kyi’s government on economic reform.

BBC /Shakirat Sadiq