Burma: Aung San Suu Kyi sentenced to four years in prison by the military junta
Aung San Suu Kyi in Tokyo, Japan on October 9, 2018. (Illustrative image) REUTERS - POOL
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A Burmese court sentenced, on Monday, December 6, the former head of the civilian government, Aung San Suu Kyi, to four years in prison for inciting public disturbances and violating health rules related to Covid-19.
Pursued by the military junta, it still has to respond to other accusations.
Amnesty International denounces the Burmese army, guilty of "
suffocating freedoms
".
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Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1991 and overthrown by the Burma Army in February, “
was sentenced to two years in prison under section 505 (b) and two years in prison under the law on natural disasters,
”Zaw Min Tun, spokesperson for the junta, told AFP on Monday (December 6th).
Former President Win Myint was given the same sentence, he said, adding that they would not be taken to jail for the time being.
"
They will have to face other charges from the places where they are currently staying
" in the capital Naypyidaw, he added, without giving further details.
►
To read also
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Aung San Suu Kyi, 76, has been detained since the generals toppled her government in the early hours of February 1, ending a brief democratic parenthesis in Burma.
The junta has regularly piled up the
charges against it
, including violation of the law on official secrets, corruption and electoral fraud.
She faces decades in prison if convicted on all counts.
►
To read also:
in
Burma: Aung San Suu Kyi, return to resistance
Journalists are prohibited from attending hearings in the military-built special tribunal, and Aung San Suu Kyi's lawyers were recently banned from speaking to the media.
According to a local rights-based NGO, more than 1,300 people have been killed and more than 10,000 have been arrested as part of the crackdown on dissent since the coup.
In response to Aung San Suu Kyi's conviction, the NGO Amnesty International reacted to these first sentences in a statement: “
The heavy sentences handed down against Aung San Suu Kyi on these false accusations are the latest example of the determination of the army to eliminate all opposition and suffocate freedoms.
"
(With AFP)
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Burma
Aung San Suu Kyi
Human rights
Justice