Myanmar’s junta has jailed ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday for four years for incitement against the military and breaching Covid rules. This is the first of a series of possible sentences that could witness the Nobel laureate imprisoned for decades. Suu Kyi, aged 76, has been detained since the generals staged a coup and ousted her government on February 1, putting an end to the Southeast Asian country’s brief period of democracy.
She’s been imposed with a series of charges which included violating the official secrets act, corruption and electoral fraud. She’ll face decades in jail if she’s convicted on all counts.
On Monday she was sentenced to two years of incitement against the military and another two years for breaching a natural disaster law relating to Covid.
The incitement conviction related to statements her National League for Democracy party published shortly after the coup condemning the generals’ takeover.
The Covid charge is associated to last year’s election which the NLD had won in a landslide, but the details are unclear with the government imposing a gag order on the court proceedings.
The military which dominated life in Myanmar for decades has defended its coup claiming fraud allegations in last year’s general election.
The international pressure on the junta to restore democracy has shown no signs of knocking the generals off course and bloody clashes with anti coup protesters continue across the country. The soldiers on Sunday wounded around 3 people after ramming a car into a peaceful demonstrators in commercial hub Yangon. State media said one had incurred serious wounds and 11 people had been arrested for protesting without permission.
