A court in military-ruled Myanmar has reportedly sentenced deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi to six years in prison after finding her guilty in four corruption cases.
The sentence, on top of an 11-year term she was sentenced to for various charges the junta foisted upon her following their anti-democratic coup, takes the ousted leader’s prison time to 17 years.
The 77-year-old Nobel laureate and figurehead of Myanmar’s opposition to military rule has been charged with at least 18 offences ranging from graft to election violations, carrying combined maximum jail terms of nearly 190 years.
Suu Kyi had called the accusations absurd and denies all charges against her.
She was found guilty on Monday August 15, of misusing funds from the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation – an organisation she founded promoting health and education – to build a home, and leasing government-owned land at a discounted rate, the source said.
Suu Kyi, who is being held in solitary confinement in a jail in the capital Naypyitaw, had already been sentenced to 11 years prison in other cases.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since last year when the military overthrew an elected government led by Suu Kyi’s party, after it won a general election, and led a deadly crackdown on dissent.
She has since been hit with a series of charges, including violating the official secrets act, corruption, and electoral fraud. She faces decades in jail if convicted on all counts.
Suu Kyi was sentenced to ‘six years imprisonment under four anti-corruption charges’, said the source, who requested anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.
Each charge carried a maximum of 15 years in jail. Suu Kyi was sentenced to three years for each, but three of the sentences would be served concurrently, the source said.
She appeared in good health and did not make any statement following the sentencing, they added.
The United States slammed the latest sentencing as an ‘affront to justice and the rule of law’.’
‘We call on the regime to immediately release Aung San Suu Kyi and all those unjustly detained, including other democratically elected officials,’ a State Department spokesperson said.