Global outrage at jailing of Suu Kyi

• Popular Myanmar leader receives a two-year prison sentence on charges of incitement and faces even more severe criminal charges

A court in military-ruled Myanmar jailed deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi for four years on Monday on charges of incitement and breaching coronavirus restrictions, drawing international outrage at what critics described as a “sham trial”.

Myanmar’s military regime on Monday reduced Aung San Suu Kyi’s jail term to two years after a special court found her guilty in her first trial since her ousting in a February coup and sentenced her to four years in prison, according to a statement on the state broadcaster MRTV.

She was charged with incitement and breaching coronavirus restrictions, drawing international outrage of what critics described as a “sham trial”.

President Win Myint was also sentenced to four years in prison, said a source on condition of anonymity, as the court delivered its first verdicts in numerous cases against Suu Kyi and other civilian leaders detained by the military in a coup on February 1.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said the more severe criminal charges that Suu Kyi has yet to face is likely to ensure that she “is never allowed to be a free woman again”.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the coup against Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government led to widespread protests and raised international concern about the end of tentative political reforms after decades of military rule.

Nobel peace prize winner

Suu Kyi, 76, has been detained since the coup along with most senior leaders of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party. Others are in hiding or abroad and no party spokesperson was available for comment.

“The conviction of the state counsellor after a sham trial in secretive proceedings before a military-controlled court is nothing but politically motivated,” UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said in comments echoed by the EU.

A military spokesperson did not respond to attempts by Reuters to reach him for comment on the sentencing, which was widely reported in domestic media.

The military has not given details of where Suu Kyi has been detained and it was not clear if the sentencing would mean any immediate change in her circumstances.

CLOSED TO MEDIA

The trial in the capital, Naypyitaw, has been closed to the media and the junta’s public information outlets have not mentioned the proceedings. Suu Kyi’s lawyers have been barred from communicating with the media and public.

Suu Kyi faces a dozen cases, including multiple corruption charges plus violations of a state secrets act, a telecom law and Covid-19 regulations, which carry combined maximum sentences of more than a century in prison.

Suu Kyi and co-defendant Win Myint received jail terms of two years for incitement and the same term for breaches of coronavirus protocols. They had denied the charges. More severe criminal charges still lie ahead for Suu Kyi.

Dr Sasa, a spokesperson for Myanmar’s shadow civilian government set up after the coup, called on the international community to step up sanctions against Myanmar’s military rulers.

Western countries have demanded Suu Kyi’s release and condemned the violence since the coup in which about 1,300 people have been killed, according to rights groups.

Liz Truss, the foreign minister of former colonial power Britain, condemned Suu Kyi’s sentencing as “another appalling attempt by Myanmar’s military regime to stifle opposition and suppress freedom and democracy”.

The EU’s top diplomat condemned the verdict as “politically motivated”. China, which has long had good relations with the military as well as Suu Kyi’s government, urged all parties to “bridge their differences under the constitutional and legal framework, and continue to advance the hard-earned democratic transition”, a foreign ministry spokesperson said.

Japan, a major investor in Myanmar, said in a statement that the verdict was an “unfavourable development” and called for the restoration of democracy in the country.

Suu Kyi’s supporters say the cases against her are baseless and designed to end her political career and tie her up in legal proceedings while the military consolidates power. Her jailing had been widely expected.

“I don’t expect anything out of this broken justice system,” Maw Htun Aung, a deputy minister in the opposition parallel government, said after the sentencing.

The junta says Suu Kyi is being given due process by an independent court led by a judge appointed by her own administration.

Suu Kyi spent years under house arrest for her opposition to military rule but was freed in 2010 and led her NLD to a landslide victory in the 2015 election.

EXCLUDE

Her party won again in November last year but the military said the vote was rigged and seized power weeks later. The election commission dismissed the military’s complaint.

Rights group Amnesty International said the charges against Suu Kyi were farcical and her jailing showed the military’s determination to eliminate opposition and suffocate freedoms. Historian and author Thant Myint U said military leaders thought their predecessors who introduced reforms more than a decade ago had gone too far in allowing Suu Kyi back into politics and the entire reason for the coup was to exclude her. Reuters