Aung San Suu Kyi convicted of three criminal charges, receives four-year prison sentence

Ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi was convicted by a junta court on three criminal charges. From the conviction, Suu Kyi received a four-year prison sentence.

Suu Kyi was convicted of three new criminal charges Monday, receiving a four-year prison sentence according to Myanmar’s junta court. The ousted leader was found guilty of two charges in relation to illegal importing and owning walkie-talkies and one charge of breaking COVID-19 protocols.

A person familiar with the matter told AFP that the walkie-talkie charges stemmed from the day of the coup when troops raided her home and discovered the equipment.

Suu Kyi has been detained since February 1 last year when the country’s generals staged a coup against Suu Kyi’s democratic government. The coup staged by the military generals resulted in widespread dissent and unrest. This also led to a bloody crackdown that saw mass detentions and over 1,400 civilians were killed.

The latest convictions add to the sentencing Suu Kyi received back in December. Suu Kyi was charged for incitement and for breaching COVID-19 restrictions while campaigning. Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing reduced Suu Kyi’s sentencing to two years under house arrest in Naypyidaw.

The ruling Suu Kyi received back in December drew backlash from the international community and citizens of Myanmar showed their outrage through banging pots and pans. Human Rights Watch researcher Manny Maung said that any more convictions against Suu Kyi would only exacerbate public discontent. Maung told AFP that the last conviction angered the public and that the military sees the cases as a fear tactic, only to receive more backlash from the public.

Previously, Al Jazeera reported that the Myanmar military killed over 30 civilians in their vehicles on Christmas eve, leaving the burned bodies to the extent of being unrecognizable. The move by the military aimed to counter the growing resistance to the extent that they have also blocked citizens’ access to basic necessities as part of its “four-cuts” strategy that has long been used to dismantle the support for ethnic armed groups.

The recent killings added to the death toll from the crackdown staged in February, but have also led to an accelerated armed resistance to counter the military since May.