Myanmar’s ousted leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been sentenced to four years in prison.
The Nobel laureate, 76, has been found guilty of incitement and violating Covid rules, according to a legal official with knowledge of the case.
She’s facing a series of charges after she was blocked from starting a second term in office when the army seized power on February 1.
It is widely thought the legal cases are intended to discredit her and block her from running in the next election.
The legal official, who insisted on anonymity for fear of being punished by the authorities, said Suu Kyi received two years in prison on each of the two charges.
The incitement case involved allegedly ‘inflammatory’ statements being posted on her party’s Facebook page after she and other party leaders had already been detained by the military.
A campaign appearance ahead of elections in November last year led to the coronavirus rule breaking charge.
Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party overwhelmingly won the election and the army’s allied party lost many seats.
But they claimed massive voting fraud although independent election observers did not detect any major irregularities.
Suu Kyi’s trials are closed to the media and spectators, and her lawyers, who had been the sole source of information on the proceedings, were served with gag orders in October forbidding them from releasing information.
The defence had battled to get the incitement charge against Suu Kyi – and a co-defendant, former President Win Myint – thrown out.
Their lawyers argued that they could not be held responsible for the statements – which criticised the takeover and suggested in broad terms that it be resisted – because they were already in detention.
Details of her sentences emerged after protest marches were held against the military government on Sunday.
An army truck deliberately sped into a march by about 30 young people in Yangon, the country’s biggest city, and at least three of the protesters may have been killed, according to unconfirmed reports.
Around 1,300 civilians have so far died taking part in nonviolent demonstrations against the regime.
It has led to an increase in armed resistance, to the point that UN experts have warned the country is sliding into civil war.
The military took Suu Kyi into custody on the day of its takeover, and she has not been seen in public since then, though she has appeared in court in several of her trials.
A judgment on a second charge of breaking coronavirus restrictions is scheduled for December 14.
Other cases against Suu Kyi now being tried include the alleged unregistered import and use of walkie-talkies by her security guards, and four separate corruption charges covering the alleged acceptance of a bribe and abuse of office to obtain favourable terms on property transactions.
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