Prison sentences are increasing against Aung San Suu Kyi. The deposed Burmese leader was sentenced by a junta court to an additional seven years in prison for corruption, in the last part of her river trial, a total of thirty-three years behind bars, confirmed on Friday to the Agence France-Presse a judicial source.
The famous 77-year-old opponent, who appeared in ” healthy “ according to this source, could end up in prison a life marked by his fight for democracy. The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate has been imprisoned since the military coup of 1is February 2021 which ended a brief period of freedom in this Southeast Asian country with a turbulent history.
A court in the capital Naypyidaw, which sits exceptionally in the penitentiary center where Mme Suu Kyi has been placed in solitary confinement, the former leader admitted guilty on Friday of five counts of corruption against her.
In a helicopter rental case for a minister, she was accused of breaking the rules and causing “a loss for the state”. “All her cases are over, there are no more charges against her”said a source who requested anonymity.
Legal sham
Corruption, electoral fraud, violation of state secrets and anti-Covid restrictions… Since the start of the legal proceedings initiated in June 2021, Aung San Suu Kyi has been convicted of multiple offences. The end of his trial, which lasted eighteen months and was described as a legal sham by human rights groups, opens a new period of uncertainty in Burma, with the prospect of elections in 2023 promised by the junta, in quest for legitimacy.
The two most recent legislative elections, in 2015 and 2020, propelled the National League for Democracy, the emblematic party founded by Aung San Suu Kyi in the late 1980s, to power. The army justified its coup of 2021 by claiming to have discovered millions of irregular votes during the last ballot, considered to be generally free by international observers.
The ruling junta’s plan to hold new elections has been criticized by the United States, but welcomed by Russia, its close ally and arms supplier.
The UN Security Council this month called for the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi, in its first resolution in decades on the situation in Burma. This call, which came in a rare moment of unity, was made possible thanks to the abstention of China and Russia, usual supporters of Naypyidaw, who renounced their right of veto.
Damaged international image
The junta immediately accused the UN of wanting “destabilize” the country. Since the coup, the detainee has only been seen a handful of times, in grainy photos taken by state media in an empty courtroom. The Nobel Peace Prize winner could serve part of her prison sentence under house arrest, experts say.
Aung San Suu Kyi remains a popular figure in Burma, even though her international image has been damaged by her failure to defend the Muslim Rohingya minority, victims of army abuses in 2016 and 2017 – a “genocide” according to Washington. Burma sank after the coup into a period of chaos, with daily violence committed by the army and self-constituted militias who accuse each other of having killed hundreds of civilians.
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More than 2,600 people have been killed in the junta-led crackdown, according to a local NGO. Several rights groups have accused the Burmese military of launching airstrikes on civilians, which constitute war crimes. The army, for its part, counted 4,000 civilians killed.