Junta court sentences Suu Kyi to five years’ jail

Ousted Myanmar leader found guilty of accepting US$600,000 cash and gold bars

YANGON: A Myanmar junta court yesterday sentenced Aung San Suu Kyi to five years in jail for corruption, part of a barrage of criminal cases that could see the deposed civilian leader jailed for decades.

Since a military coup ousted her government in February last year, plunging Myanmar into upheaval, Suu Kyi has been in military custody.

In the latest case, the Nobel laureate was accused of accepting a bribe of US$600,000 (RM2.6 million) cash and gold bars.

After two days of delays, the special court in the military-built capital Naypyidaw handed down its verdict and sentence at 9.30am.

“Regarding taking gold and dollars from U Phyo Min Thein, the court sentenced her five years’ imprisonment,” said junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun. “She will be under house arrest.

“I do not know whether she asked for appeal.

“They are working according to the legal way.

“As far as I know, she’s in good health.”

She still faces a raft of other criminal charges, including violating the official secrets act, corruption and electoral fraud, and could be jailed for more than 100 years if convicted on all counts.

The 76-year-old had already been sentenced to six years in jail for incitement against the military, breaching Covid-19 rules and breaking a telecommunications law – although she will remain under house arrest while she fights other charges.

Journalists have been barred from attending the court hearings and Suu Kyi’s lawyers have been banned from speaking to the media.

Under a previous junta regime, Suu Kyi spent long spells under house arrest in her family mansion in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city.

Today, she is confined to an undisclosed location in the capital, with her link to the outside world limited to brief pre-trial meetings with her lawyers.

“The days of Aung San Suu Kyi as a free woman are effectively over,” said Human Rights Watch deputy Asia director Phil Robertson.

“Destroying popular democracy in Myanmar also means getting rid of Aung San Suu Kyi, and the junta is leaving nothing to chance.”

Independent Myanmar analyst David Mathieson said the junta was using the criminal cases to make Suu Kyi “politically irrelevant”.

“This is just another squalid step in solidifying the coup.

“This is politically motivated pure and simple.”