Myanmar
\nOusted Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to another seven years in jail as her long series of trials ended on Friday, with the Nobel laureate now facing more than three decades behind bars.
\nA prisoner of the military since a coup last year, Suu Kyi, 77, has been convicted on every charge levelled against her ranging from corruption to illegally possessing walkie-talkies and flouting Covid restrictions.
\nOn Friday, she was jailed for seven years on five counts of corruption related to the hiring, maintaining and purchase of a helicopter for a government minister, a case in which she allegedly caused \u201ca loss to the state\u201d.
\nSuu Kyi \u2014 sentenced to a total of 33 years following 18 months of court proceedings that rights groups have dismissed as a sham \u2014 appeared in good health, a legal source familiar with the case told AFP.
\n\u201cAll her cases were finished and there are no more charges against her,\u201d said the source, who requested anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media.
\nJournalists have been barred from attending the hearings and Suu Kyi\u2019s lawyers have been blocked from speaking to the media.
\nThe road leading to the prison holding Suu Kyi in the military-built capital Naypyidaw was clear of traffic ahead of the verdict, said an AFP correspondent in the city.
\nFormer Myanmar president Win Myint, who was co-accused with Suu Kyi in the latest trial, received the same sentence, the source said, adding that both would appeal.
\nSince her trial began, Suu Kyi has been seen only once \u2014 in grainy state media photos from a bare courtroom \u2014 and has been reliant on lawyers to relay messages to the world.
\nMany in Myanmar\u2019s democracy struggle, which Suu Kyi has dominated for decades, have abandoned her core principle of non-violence, with \u201cPeople\u2019s Defence Forces\u201d clashing regularly with the military across the country.
\nLast week, the United Nations Security Council called on the junta to release Suu Kyi in its first resolution on the situation in Myanmar since the coup.
\nIt was a moment of relative unity by the council after permanent members and junta allies China and Russia abstained, opting not to wield vetoes following amendments to the wording.<\/p>\n
\u2018Ridiculous\u2019
\nThe corruption charges were \u201cridiculous\u201d, said Htwe Htwe Thein, an associate professor at Curtin University in Australia.
\n\u201cNothing in Aung San Suu Kyi\u2019s leadership, governance, or lifestyle indicates the smallest hint of corruption,\u201d she said.
\n\u201cThe question now will be what to do with Aung San Suu Kyi,\u201d said Richard Horsey of the International Crisis Group.
\n\u201cWhether to allow her to serve out her sentence under some form of house arrest, or grant foreign envoys limited access to her.
\n\u201cBut the regime is unlikely to be in any rush to make such decisions.\u201d
\nThe military alleged widespread voter fraud during elections in November 2020 that were won resoundingly by Suu Kyi\u2019s National League for Democracy (NLD), though international observers said the polls were largely free and fair.
\nThe junta has since cancelled the result and said it uncovered more than 11 million instances of voter fraud.
\nSuu Kyi\u2019s convictions \u201caim to both permanently sideline her, as well as undermine and ultimately negate her NLD party\u2019s landslide victory,\u201d said Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch.
\nMyanmar has been in turmoil since the military seized power, ending the Southeast Asian nation\u2019s brief experiment with democracy and sparking huge protests.
\nThe junta has responded with a crackdown that rights groups say includes razing villages, mass extrajudicial killings and airstrikes on civilians.
\nMore than one million people have been displaced since the coup, according to the United Nations children\u2019s agency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Myanmar Ousted Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to another seven years in jail as her long series of trials ended on Friday, with the Nobel laureate now facing more than three decades behind bars. A prisoner of the military since a coup last year, Suu Kyi, 77, has been convicted on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304500,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-304474","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n