LATEST TRIAL
Myanmar’s ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi received seven additional years in jail on Friday, bringing her total prison sentence up to 33 years. The 77-year-old Nobel laureate was found guilty of five counts of corruption that caused a loss of state funds.
Prosecutors argued that the former State Counsellor of Myanmar had violated proper protocols while renting a helicopter and had bought a second one sometime between 2019 and 2021.
This is the final verdict in a series of cases that Suu Kyi has been fighting in closed-door trials in military-run courts.
REACTIONS
Rights groups have denounced the verdicts for being shams.
"Since seizing power almost two years ago, Myanmar’s military has turned the courts and prison system into a human rights inferno in which journalists, activists, politicians, doctors, protesters and many others are jailed for nothing more than peacefully expressing dissent." 3/4
— amnestypress (@amnestypress) December 30, 2022
Richard Horsey, a senior adviser on Myanmar for the International Crisis Group, called the verdict an “unsurprising” result of “a show trial.” He accused the military government of aiming to “silence” Suu Kyi and “remove her from the political landscape.”
Similarly, human rights lawyer U Kyee Myint said that the junta’s charges against Suu Kyi are politically motivated, as it considers her to be a threat and seeks to minimise her influence in the country.
“As long as Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is in politics, the military will never win,” Kyee Myint said. “That’s why long-term prison terms are imposed — to remove Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s influence in politics,” he stressed.
Aung San Suu Kyi has just been sentenced to a further seven years in prison, taking her overall jail time to 33 years, @Europarl_EN called various times for her release, for the cessation of all violence and for a path back to democracy in #Myanmar 🇲🇲 pic.twitter.com/ipjOgvxkFT
— European Parliament in ASEAN (@EPinASEAN) December 30, 2022
SUU KYI’S PAST CHARGES
Suu Kyi is already serving 26 years in jail for at least 18 offences including acceptance of bribery, sedition, possession of walkie-talkies, flouting election rules, and violating the country’s secrets act, carrying a combined maximum term of nearly 190 years.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR MYANMAR’S FUTURE?
The latest sentence makes it likely that the deposed civilian leader will remain behind bars for the rest of her life, unless the junta:
- converts her sentence to house arrest,
- overturns its own ruling,
- falls from power
Suu Kyi’s lawyers plan to appeal the charges, as she has denied any wrongdoing.
TIMING
It is suspected that the junta government wrapped up Suu Kyi’s trial by the end of last year so that it could focus on its goal of further consolidating its power by installing Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing as president during the upcoming general election in mid-2023.
Although the shadow government established by ousted civilian lawmakers after the February 2021 coup is immensely popular, it has failed to gain international recognition or compete against the military politically. General Min Aung Hlaing’s military-backed party is likely to win the next election.