A military regime-controlled court in Myanmar has sentenced the country’s detained elected leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to three more years’ imprisonment for alleged fraud in the 2020 election.
Friday’s ruling means the 77-year-old has now been jailed for a total of 20 years; the regime court has already sentenced her to 17 years on other charges.
President U Win Myint and Union Minister U Min Thu of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) government were also sentenced to three years in prison with labor for allegedly engaging in fraud in the election, a source close to the court told The Irrawaddy.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD won the election by a landslide, which should have secured it a second term in office. But the military staged a coup in February last year, claiming electoral fraud despite local and international observers’ verdict that there were no voting irregularities
The court also ruled that the trio’s pre-verdict detention periods would not be deducted from their prison sentences, the source added.
The three pleaded not guilty to the charge, and insisted that the committees tasked with ensuring the accuracy of voter lists in 2020—on which the regime’s prosecution was based—were formed in line with existing laws.
With the latest three-year imprisonment, U Win Myint has now been given five years.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi still faces eight other charges including two charges of corruption for allegedly accepting a bribe of US$550,000 from businessman Maung Weik for her charity, the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation—a case under the Official Secrets Act—and five charges of corruption over her rental and purchase of a helicopter for use in overseeing the management of natural disasters and state affairs.
If she is found guilty of all charges, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will have to spend the rest of her life in prison. Local and international observers see it as the junta’s deliberate attempt to keep her out of Myanmar politics once and for all.
U Win Myint faces five charges of corruption alongside Daw Aung San Suu Kyi relating to the helicopter purchase.
