Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi jailed for four more years

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi jailed for four more years

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi jailed for four more years

Accused of owning walkie-talkies & breaking Covid rules

New Delhi, Jan. 10 (Delhi Crown):  A military court in Myanmar on Monday convicted the country’s former State Counsellor and Nobel Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to four more years in prison on three fresh criminal charges.

The 76-year-old leader was declared guilty of two charges related to illegally importing and owning walkie-talkies and one charge of breaking coronavirus rules.

Monday’s conviction is in addition to the penalties the court had handed down in December when she was jailed for four years for incitement and breaching of Covid-19 rules while campaigning, but military dictator, General Min Aung Hlaing reduced that sentence to two years and said she could serve her term under house arrest in Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw.

Military Junta spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun confirmed the verdict and said Suu Kyi would remain under house arrest even as other cases against her are being processed and proceeded with.

Suu Kyi has been under detention since February 1 last year, when her government was ousted in an early morning military coup. The coup triggered widespread public dissent, forcing security forces to launch a crackdown in which more than 1,400 civilians have reportedly been killed so far.

The walkie-talkie charges stem from the time when army soldiers raided Suu Kyi’s house on February 1 last year to allegedly discover contraband equipment in her possession.

Myanmar’s armed forces are facing severe international condemnation for their actions against Suu Kyi. The public is said to have reverted to a banging of pots and pans to express their anger and discontent over her continued detention.

What has added to the public angst is the military barring media and lawyers from reporting anything on Suu Kyi, who is confined at an undisclosed location in Naypyidaw.

Besides Monday’s cases, Suu Kyi is also facing multiple counts of corruption, each of which is punishable by 15 years in jail, and for violating the Official Secrets Act. She and 15 other officials, including Myanmar’s former president Win Myint, have also been charged with alleged electoral fraud during the 2020 polls.

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