Nobel Peace Prize laureate jailed for another 7 years — RT World News
A Myanmar court on Friday sentenced the country’s ousted leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, to an additional seven years behind bars. The new case became the latest in a long series of legal proceedings the politician faced following her February 2021 overthrow by the military junta.
The conviction brings Suu Kyi’s total prison sentence to 33 years, including three with hard labor, which effectively means a life sentence for the 77-year-old. The latest case involved five offenses under the country’s anti-corruption law, a legal official told AP.
Suu Kyi, dubbed the « democracy icon » by the media, has been repeatedly convicted on various charges following the coup. The charges against her range from voter fraud to illegally smuggling walkie-talkies into the country. The ousted leader has always denied any wrongdoing, insisting the charges against her were absurd and politically motivated.
The politician was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her work in bringing democracy to Myanmar. During her tenure, however, she herself faced allegations of human rights violations, particularly over the controversial treatment of the Muslim Rohingya minority in the country, described by some experts as a » genocide ».
Suu Kyi became Myanmar’s first – and, so far, only – female state councilor in 2016, securing a comfortable re-election for herself and a landslide victory for her National League for Democracy (NLD) party. ) in late 2020. Widespread fraud in the election was cited by the military as a pretext to remove the state councilor, with Suu Kyi and fellow politicians strongly denying all charges.
The 2021 coup ended a brief period of civilian rule in Myanmar, which was controlled by the military from the early 1960s to 2011. The coup caused months-long unrest in the country, the violence that left some 2,000 dead, according to various observers. groups. Thousands of opponents of the military government ended up in prison, but some 6,000 were released last November in a sweeping amnesty launched by the authorities.
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