Myanmar’s former leader receives additional seven year sentence

Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s former democratically-elected leader, has been jailed for an additional seven years, increasing her jail term to 33 years.

On Friday, the country’s military court increased the sentence of the leader based on the final five charges she was facing. Kyi, who had been under house arrest since the military exiled her government in a coup in February 2022, met 18 months of trials on 19 charges – which rights groups say are a sham.

A court found her guilty of corruption because she had not followed regulations in renting a helicopter for a government minister. She had already been convicted of 14 crimes, including breaching Covid public safety rules, importing walkie-talkies, and violating the official secrets act.

Her trials this year have been set behind closed doors with the public and media barred access, and her lawyers are also banned from speaking to journalists. She has denied all the charges against her. The 77-year-old Nobel laureate has spent most of her time in detention under house arrest in the capital Nay Pyi Taw.

Suu Kyi and many members of her party are among more than 16,600 people whom the junta has arrested since they seized power – 13,000 remain in prison, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma).

Last week the UN Security Council called for an end to violence in Myanmar and the release of all political prisoners. China and Russia abstained from the vote and did not use their veto power following amendments to the resolution’s wording.

Amnesty International has previously said that the “relentless legal assault on Ms. Suu Kyi shows how the military has weaponized the courts to bring politically motivated or farcical charges against opponents.”

The military’s violent confiscation of power last February triggered widespread demonstrations, prompting Myanmar’s military to crack down on pro-democracy protesters and activists. It also started renewed internal fighting between separate ethnic rebel groups, a civilian force resisting the military, and the junta rulers.

The junta has been accused of extrajudicial killings and launching airstrikes on civilian villages. It’s estimated that more than 2,600 people have been killed in the military’s crackdown on dissent.

BBC/S.O