Myanmar has sentenced its ousted civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and has given the official a two-year prison sentence after the country's military junta decided to halve the initial four-year sentence.
Suu Kyi was sentenced to four years in prison earlier in the day on charges of incitement and breaking coronavirus protocols. The sentencing was the first verdict against the Nobel Peace Prize winner since the country's military junta took control of the government in February.
Aung San Suu Kyi's Trial
The 76-year-old civilian leader was Myanmar's state counselor and de facto leader before the military's coup. Military personnel detained the official and placed nearly a dozen charges against the civilian leader. The total combined maximum sentences added up to over 100 years.
These include several charges of corruption, each carrying a maximum prison sentence of 15 years, violating coronavirus pandemic restrictions during the 2020 election campaign, incitement, illegally importing and possessing walkie talkies, and infringing the Official Secrets Act, which carried a maximum prison sentence of 14 years, CNN reported.
Suu Kyi has been kept in detention since the military junta's coup in February and details of her transfer to prison remain unclear. Currently, the civilian leader is being held by military personnel at an undisclosed location.
The former president and Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party ally, Win Myint, who is a co-defendant in the trial, was also jailed on Monday for years under the same charges as Suu Kyi. In response to the announcement, UN Human Rights chief Michelle Bachelet condemned the trial and said it only fueled more hate for the coup.
Meanwhile, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss urged Myanmar to release all of its political prisoners and allow them to return to democracy. She said that the military junta's arbitrary detention of election lawmakers only incited further unrest within the region, BBC reported.
Myanmar Military Junta Coup
Suu Kyi's trial was held behind closed doors and her conviction is believed to force protesters to decry the military junta further. The incident comes after Sunday when an army vehicle allegedly drove through a group of demonstrators in Yangon, resulting in the death of three civilians.
A video of the recent horrific incident was posted on social media and showed a fast-moving military truck plowing through protesters from behind. The recording also captured voices that could be heard saying, "The car is coming. Please help! It hit the children. Oh!. Dead!. Run, run!" and also showed roughly a dozen people fleeing for their safety.
Since Suu Kyi's detention after the military junta's coup, violent protests have broken out in the streets across Myanmar. The demonstrations have resulted in the death of at least 1,300 people, as per reports. However, the military has claimed that protesters who died instigated the incidents.
Suu Kyi's lawyers have continuously sought to have the incitement charge against their client dismissed. The prosecution handed in evidence of the case that included statements posted on Facebook on a page of Suu Kyi's party. However, defense lawyers argued that Suu Kyi and Myint could not be held responsible for the statements because they were already being held in detention at the time, Fox News reported.
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