Suu Kyi gets 4 yrs in trial seen as political

MONDAY’S VERDICT was the first expected in a series of cases against 76-year-old Suu Kyi. If found guilty of all the charges she faces, the civilian leader of Myanmar could be sentenced to more than 100 years in prison.

Bangkok, Dec. 6: Aung San Suu Kyi, the civilian leader of Myanmar who was ousted in a de facto coup this year, was convicted of incitement and another charge Monday and sentenced to four years in prison, in a trial widely criticised as yet a further attempt by the country’s military rulers to roll back the democratic gains of recent years.

It also serves to cement a dramatic reversal of fortunes for the Nobel Peace laureate, who spent 15 years under house arrest for resisting the Southeast Asian nation’s generals but then worked uncomfortably alongside them when they promised to usher in democratic rule.

Monday’s verdict was the first expected in a series of cases against 76year-old Suu Kyi, who was arrested when the army seized power on February 1 and prevented her National League for Democracy party from starting a second fiveyear term in office following a landslide electoral victory.

If found guilty of all the charges she faces, Ms Suu Kyi could be sentenced to more than 100 years in prison. She is being held by the military at an unknown location, and the court did not make clear Monday whether she would be moved to a prison or kept under some form of house arrest, according to a legal official, who relayed the verdict to the Associated Press and who insisted on anonymity for fear of being punished by the authorities.

The court did offer a 10month reduction in the sentence for time served.

The army seized power claiming massive voting fraud in the November 2020 election in which its allied party lost many seats, but independent election observers did not detect any major irregularities.