Myanmar military court jails Aung San Suu Kyi

A military court sentenced deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi to four years in prison Monday over incitement and breaches of COVID-19 laws, which the junta chief reduced to two years of house arrest – a ruling condemned by the U.S. that rights groups said was aimed at ending the Nobel laureate’s political career.

Ten months after they were overthrown and arrested by the army, the 76-year-old Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint received two years for incitement against the military and two years for violating coronavirus restrictions, according to sources familiar with the closed-door court proceedings.

In a broadcast on military-run television Monday, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing cited his discretionary power to amend criminal sentences as “President of the Union”–a status that is not recognized outside military circles–to reduce the sentence of the two leaders to two years under house arrest.

“The Burmese military regime’s unjust conviction of Aung San Suu Kyi and the repression of other democratically elected officials are yet further affronts to democracy and justice in Burma,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement, using the country’s former name.

Full story: rfa.org

Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Zaw Zaw Aung. Written in English by Paul Eckert.