3 January, 2022: The former Nobel Peace Prize winner is facing 33 years in prison overall following 18-month-long legal proceedings
Former Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been given a seven-year prison extension after being found responsible for five counts of corruption while serving in office.
The 77-year-old democratically elected hero of the rebellion to decades of military dictatorship, who oversaw Myanmar for five years before being removed from office in a military coup in early 2021, received her last sentence.
The decision in the trial declared Suu Kyi guilty of corruption in connection with the acquisition, maintenance, and renting of a helicopter that is otherwise used for government activities and natural catastrophes, including rescues and crises. She now faces a total sentence of 33 years in prison, including three years of hard labor, and she could spend the rest of her life in prison.
Suu Kyi has already been found guilty of a number of crimes, including vote fraud and accepting bribes. She has consistently rejected all of the accusations made against her, and he lawyers have said all of the charges against her are fraud and politically biased, since the military junta is in power.
Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said in a statement, “The convictions aim to both permanently sideline (Suu Kyi), as well as undermine and ultimately negate her NLD (National League for Democracy) party’s landslide victory in the November 2020 election.”
In 2021, after the military Junta overthrew the democratically elected government, the country has been facing extreme economic crisis and lack of freedom. Since the coup, there have been approximately 16,500 arrests and over 2,600 civilian deaths as a result of the military assault on the pro-democracy movement. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, more than 130 people, including university students, have received death sentences for participating in anti-regime protests, while tens of thousands of political prisoners are still detained.
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