A Myanmar court ruled by the military junta jailed deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her Australian economic adviser, Sean Turnell, on Thursday with an additional three years of imprisonment for allegedly violating a secrets law.
Authorities also found Turnell guilty of violating an immigration law and was ordered to concurrently serve another three-year sentence. Under the same law, the Myanmar junta also charged a former British envoy, an American journalist, and a Japanese filmmaker.
Suu Kyi, Economic Adviser Convicted
The two defendants had pleaded not guilty to the charges that were handed to them, which carry a maximum sentence of 14 years. A source familiar with the proceedings said that Suu Kyi and Turnell were given three years each with no hard labor.
The defendants and several members of the former's economic team are among the thousands who were arrested since the military junta took control of the government after ousting Suu Kyi's elected officials in a coup early last year, as per Reuters.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate, was previously sentenced to at least 23 years in prison in separate cases, the majority of which were related to corruption charges. However, the official has denied all of the allegations thrown at her.
Opposition to the military junta argues that the charges against the deposed leader are aimed at blocking her from ever getting involved in politics in the future and thus challenging the military's grip on power within the country.
According to the Associated Press, 58-year-old Turnell, who is also an associate professor in economics at Sydney's Macquarie University, served as an adviser to Suu Kyi. His family and friends expressed their hopes that he would soon be freed and deported, similar to what happened with other foreigners in Myanmar who were convicted of political offenses.
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Unjust Detention
Turnell's wife, Ha Vu, who is also an economist, said that the incident was heartbreaking to her, her daughter, the defendant's 85-year-old father, and the rest of their family to hear that Turnell was convicted and imprisoned. She noted that her husband has been one of Myanmar's greatest supporters for more than two decades and has worked tirelessly to bolster the nation's economy.
Ha Vu noted that her husband has been in a Myanmar prison for nearly two-thirds of his sentence. She begged authorities to consider his contributions to the country and asked them to deport him immediately.
In a statement, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong's office rejected the Myanmar court's ruling and called for Turnell's immediate release. Her office decried what it said was the unjust detention of Turnell as Australian diplomats were denied access to the court hearing for the verdict.
Wong added that the Australian government had consistently rejected the charges against Turnell during the more than nine months that he was unjustly detained by the Myanmar military junta.
She added that they would continue to take every opportunity to advocate strongly for the defendant to be released and returned to his family in Australia. The Myanmar military had not released the exact details of the defendants' alleged offenses, Aljazeera reported.
