Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi sentenced to six more years in prison

Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi sentenced to six more years in prison

Aung San Suu Kyi, the deposed leader of Myanmar, was given a six-year prison extension on Monday, which is certain to infuriate the 77-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner's supporters. 

Aung San Suu KyiAung San Suu Kyi
India TodayNE
  • Aug 15, 2022,
  • Updated Aug 15, 2022, 5:34 PM IST

Aung San Suu Kyi, the deposed leader of Myanmar, was given a six-year prison extension on Monday, which is certain to infuriate the 77-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner's supporters. 

Suu Kyi was convicted of misusing funds from the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation—an organization she founded to promote health and education—to build a home, and lease government-owned land at a discounted rate. 

According to people acquainted with the case who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the proceedings were private, she was found guilty of four corruption charges relating to a charity named after her late mother by a special court inside a prison compound in the capital, Naypyidaw. 

It’s the fourth round of criminal verdicts against Suu Kyi since the military seized power in a 2021 coup and brings her total jail term to 17 years, extinguishing any chance of her staging a political comeback while the junta remains in power. 

For each of the four crimes, she was given a three-year sentence. However, three of those terms will be served concurrently, giving her a total of six more years in jail.

Suu Kyi has termed the accusations ridiculous and has refuted all of them. Her attorneys are likely to file an appeal. 

She had already been sentenced to 11 years in prison on sedition, corruption and other charges at earlier trials after the military ousted her elected government and detained her in February 2021.

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