A judicial source told AFP that Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial by the Myanmar junta ended on Friday (Dec. 30), and the Nobel laureate was sentenced to 33 years in prison.
Aung San Suu Kyi, 77, a prisoner of the military since the coup in 2021, has been found guilty of all charges brought against her, including corruption, illegal possession of walkie-talkies, and violating COVID-19 regulations.
According to the source, she was convicted on Friday on five counts of corruption relating to the hiring, acquisition, and upkeep of a helicopter that had resulted in “loss to the state.”
The source, who asked to remain anonymous since they were not authorized to speak to the media, stated that “all her cases were resolved and there are no more charges against her.”
Aung San Suu Kyi, who is currently serving a 33-year sentence in prison after an 18-month trial that rights organizations have dubbed a fraud, appeared to be in good health, the source noted.
The defense team for Aung San Suu Kyi has insisted time and again that she is innocent. In November, she acknowledged that she was “merely dispensing instructions in accordance with office rules.”
Rights organizations have long argued that the accusations are “manufactured” in an effort to keep the 77-year-old democracy figurehead imprisoned (she is currently in a Naypyidaw prison) and to lessen her influence.
According to Patrick Phongsathorn, senior advocacy specialist at Fortify Rights, “This conviction and the continuous detention of state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi is part and parcel of the junta’s ongoing offensive against the civilian people of Myanmar.”
According to the local media, there had been hopes that Aung San Suu Kyi’s sentence would be reduced as part of a general amnesty in honor of the new year and the 75th anniversary of Myanmar’s Independence Day, which will be celebrated on January 4. At this time last year, the junta lowered Aung San Suu Kyi’s original sentence by two years and released a number of political detainees.
Along with youngsters and pro-democracy campaigners, the leaders are among the more than 16,650 people who have been detained since the coup’s inception. Targeted assassinations and reports of torture are now prevalent.
