Daw Aung San Suu KyiMyanmar’s ousted civilian leader who was imprisoned in a coup last year, was sentenced to three years in prison, hard labor, on Friday when a court found her guilty of electoral fraud in a case the military took against her after her political party He won the great battle of 2020.
The latest sentence brings her total prison sentence to 20 years, a sign that authorities have not eased pressure on Aung San Suu Kyi despite international condemnation. The guilty verdict comes as the military seeks to erase her influence in the country. Last month, Myanmar’s military-backed Supreme Court announced it would auction off her residence, where she spent nearly 15 years under house arrest under the previous regime.
The election fraud case stems from an allegation in November 2021 by the government-controlled Election Commission: Aung San Suu Kyi and other high-ranking officials are accused of manipulating voter lists to keep drag the 2020 election. Aung San Suu Kyi’s political party, the National League for Democracy, crushed the military-backed party in that vote, which independent international observers claim father is free and fair.
Earlier members of the election commission also objected to the voter fraud allegation, saying there was no evidence. The day after announcing the coup in February 2021, the military dismissed all members of the commission and installed their own people. It then announced that the election results had been annulled.
In July, Aung San Suu Kyi testified for the first time on allegations of election fraud, saying she was not guilty. On Friday, a judge in the capital Naypyidaw, also sentenced U Win Myint, the country’s ousted president, to three years, the maximum term, on the same charges.
The authorities, which have long denied criticism that the charges against Aung San Suu Kyi are politically motivated, have accused her of break the rules. In the election fraud case, it said it found nearly 10.5 million cases of anomalies and identified entries with a person’s national identification number being repeated — under the same name or a Others. It also said it found ballots with no country codes listed.
Friday’s sentencing is the fifth sentencing 77-year-old Aung San Suu Kyi, who has appeared in court on a range of other charges including inciting public unrest and violating Covid-19 protocols. This is the first time she has been sentenced to hard labor, forcing convicts to carry heavy stones in quarries, a practice that international rights groups have denounced. She is appealing the verdict, according to a source familiar with the proceedings.
She was sentenced to a total of 17 years in prison, starting in December 2021. She still faces eight more charges related to corruption and violation of the official secrecy act. If found guilty on all the remaining counts, she could face a maximum prison sentence of 119 years.
Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has denied all charges against her, while the United Nations and many other international organizations have demanded her freedom.
No one has heard from Aung San Suu Kyi since her detention, except for her lawyers, who are prohibited from speaking to the media. She is being held in solitary confinement, while previous military regimes allowed her to be placed under house arrest.
Despite the authorities’ efforts to make her disappear, Aung San Suu Kyi is still revered by many in Myanmar. A paper fan belonging to her sold in an online auction for more than $340,000 last month to help a victim who was burned by the military in an arson attack. Her son, Kim Aris, auctioned off a piece of art for more than $1 million, money that will be used to help victims of military atrocities.
Myanmar has been outraged by widespread protests since the coup. Thousands of armed resistance fighters are fighting the army, carrying out bombings and assassinations that have crippled troops in several parts of the country. The civil disobedience movement, started by striking doctors, teachers and railroad workers, is still going strong.
On Friday, the military sentenced Vicky Bowmana former British ambassador, and her Burmese husband, Ko Htein Lin, are serving a year in prison for breaking immigration laws, according to a prison official.
Tatmadaw, as it is known to Myanmar’s military, has long resented Aung San Suu Kyi, whose popularity threatens military rule. Before her most recent arrest, she kept her distance from Senior Lieutenant General Min Aung Hlaing, the army chief and general behind the coup.
The two leaders are part of a delicate power-sharing arrangement, in which Aung San Suu Kyi heads the government’s civilian side and General Min Aung Hlaing maintains absolute control over the military, police, and military. police and border guards. The two rarely talk, choosing instead to send messages through an intermediary.
Many political experts point to the time in 2016 when Aung San Suu Kyi’s political party, NLD, introduce a bill in Parliament to create a new position for her as state adviser at a time of fractured relations between the military and Aung San Suu Kyi. As state adviser, Aung San Suu Kyi declared herself above the president and proclaimed herself foreign minister, a move the military sees as a power grab.
In November 2020, the NLD won by a larger margin than in the previous election. Three months later, and hours before the new Parliament was scheduled to be sworn in, soldiers and police arrested Aung San Suu Kyi and other party leaders.
General Min Aung Hlaing announced the coup later that day, declaring on public television that there had been “terrible fraud” in the vote.
