Aung San Suu Kyi sentenced to four years in prison in Myanmar

The Nobel Peace Prize winner and leader of the country’s democracy movement has been tried behind closed doors. According to a person familiar with the matter, Ms Suu Kyi, 76, was convicted of abetment and breach of pandemic regulations. He received two years for each charge, which is one of a dozen that have been brought against him by the military.

The guilty decisions are likely to spark further unrest in the Southeast Asian nation, which plunged into turmoil after a coup in February. Mass protests against military rule were met with deadly force, with the country’s economy falling freely and conflict intensified. between the army and rebel groups.

Soldiers and police have killed more than 1,300 people and detained more than 10,000 people since the coup, according to the non-profit Aid Association for Political Prisoners. In the most recent clash on Sunday, security forces rammed and rammed a truck into a crowd of protesters in the country’s largest city, Yangon.

State-controlled media said three people were injured, one was seriously injured, and 11 were arrested. An independent local media outlet, Myanmar Now, reported that five people were killed. That report could not be independently verified.

An unverified video of the incident, which was posted on social media, shows a vehicle speeding towards a group of protesters as they are running in the other direction. At least one person can be seen lying on the ground later in the video. In another, protesters with a picture of Suu Kyi and a banner adorned with her words, “The only real prison fear and real freedom is freedom from fear,” are seen running as gunfire sounds behind her.

“We are appalled by reports that security forces opened fire against peaceful protesters in Yangon this morning, fled and killed several peaceful protesters,” the US embassy in Myanmar said.

Ms Suu Kyi’s sentencing is the most recent sign that the junta has no intention of loosening its grip, and that several of her colleagues have recently been harshly punished. His longtime aide, 79-year-old Win Hattin, was sentenced in October to 20 years in prison for treason. According to his lawyer, two other members of his political party were sentenced to 92 and 77 years for various offenses in November.

Ms Suu Kyi was sentenced on Monday along with ousted President Win Myint and a senior member of his political party, Myo Aung, according to a person familiar with the matters. All three were found guilty of abetment, while Ms Suu Kyi and Mr Win Myint were also found guilty of violating the Disaster Management Act.

Ms. Suu Kyi has not been allowed to address the public. Initially detained at her residence in the capital, Naipitaw, Ms Suu Kyi has been held at an undisclosed location since late May. Trials for him and other members of his government have been closed to the public. His lawyers have been barred by the military junta from speaking to the press.

Myanmar’s military did not respond to a request for comment. The public has said that due process was provided to Ms. Suu Kyi.

The allegations of incitement against Ms Suu Kyi relate to two statements issued by her political party, the National League for Democracy, soon after the coup. The first urged the international community to refuse formal recognition of the junta, the second declared illegal by the rule of law. The allegation of violation of pandemic norms pertains to his presence among the crowd while the Disaster Management Act was in effect.

Other charges against him include illegally importing walkie-talkies, violating a state-secret act, electoral fraud and corruption.

Political analysts and human rights advocates say Suu Kyi’s sentence is meant to keep her out of politics as the public seeks to legitimize her rule through new elections held on their own terms. The military says it seized power in the 2020 elections due to irregularities, giving Suu Kyi’s party a landslide victory. Independent monitors say there is no evidence of widespread fraud.

“Many of the charges and subsequent first convictions are designed to keep them out of the picture,” said Human Rights Watch’s Myanmar researcher Manny Mong. “But it is clear that the public will not swallow the pill being given to them, and the outrage of the military will only fuel further public demonstrations and resistance.”

Ms Suu Kyi’s bitter rivalry with the Myanmar military goes back decades. The daughter of the country’s late independence hero, she became the face of Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement in 1988 in the midst of a popular uprising against military rule. The following year, he was sentenced for the first of several spells of house arrest.

Ms. Suu Kyi spent much of the next two decades detained by the military. He was released in 2010 and in 2015 his party won a landslide victory in Myanmar’s first free and fair vote in a quarter century. Banned from the presidency under a constitution penned by the military, he served as de facto leader until his arrest hours before his government was sworn in for a second term.

During his five years in power, the country’s democratic transformation broke out. Ms Suu Kyi has long been respected internationally as a defender of human rights, but her reputation was badly damaged because she did not protect the Rohingya Muslims, a stateless minority that was killed in a 2017 military attack. was targeted, which UN investigators say was carried out with genocide intent.

His administration has also been accused of lagging behind on civil liberties, using colonial-era laws to prosecute activists and journalists. Some critics say she was too friendly towards generals who, despite enabling the transition, wielded veto power over key ministries, large parts of the economy, and attempts to change the constitution. Ethnic minority leaders involved in talks to end the decades-long civil war in the country say that peace talks have stalled. Hopes of an economic renaissance faded.

But among the ethnic Burmese majority, she remained as popular as ever. His supporters dismissed the criticism, defending him as a pragmatist who could not push the military too fast for much change. Within a week of his government’s removal, massive protests broke out across the country and workers went on strike, bringing services including transportation, banking and medical care to a halt.

Much of Ms. Suu Kyi’s government was arrested. Many of those who were not arrested went into hiding and formed parallel administrations with a spectrum of political allies. The National Unity Government, as it calls itself, has denounced the junta as illegitimate and supported an emerging armed resistance. The military has stepped up its offensive against these new insurgents, which it has labeled as safe havens for terrorists, shelling and burning villages.

Political analysts expect more uncertainty and violence, as both the military and its adversaries are unwilling to compromise. “It will increase people’s resolve to maintain resistance, and it will mean a lot of violence across the country,” said David Mathison, an independent expert from Myanmar based in Thailand. “It’s a ridiculous show trial using legal exposure. Process when it’s clear it’s a political farce, and it’s just adding fuel to the fire.”