Court convicts deposed Myanmar leader on corruption charges in case relating to use of helicopter while in power
In this photo taken on March 13, 2021, a protester holds a poster with an image of detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a candlelight vigil to honour those who have died during demonstrations against the military coup in Yangon. Pic/AFP
A court in army-ruled Myanmar on Friday convicted deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi on five counts of corruption and jailed her for seven more years, an informed source said, wrapping up a marathon of trials condemned internationally as a sham. In a closed-door court session, Suu Kyi, who was arrested during a coup in February 2021, was found guilty of offences relating to her lease and use of a helicopter while Myanmar’s de facto leader, said the source, who has knowledge of her trials.
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A Nobel Peace Prize winner for her decades-long campaign for democracy in Myanmar, the popular, Oxford-educated Suu Kyi has spent much of her political life in detention under military governments. Friday’s verdict adds to sentences of at least 26 years handed down since December last year.
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The source, who could not be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue, said Suu Kyi was in good health. Suu Kyi led Myanmar for five years from 2015 during a decade of tentative democracy that came after the military ended its 49-year rule, only for it to wrest back control early last year to stop her government from starting a second term, accusing it of ignoring irregularities in an election her party won.
Western countries have dismissed the trials as a sham designed to keep the junta’s biggest threat at bay amid widespread domestic resistance to its rule. The United Nations Security Council last week passed a resolution calling for the junta to end hostilities and release all political detainees, including Suu Kyi.
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