Myanmar military government adds to ousted leader’s prison sentence

A court in Myanmar today convicted ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi of corruption and sentenced her to seven years in prison. Corruption is the latest in a string of criminal charges the military government has brought since it removed her from power in 2021. Suu Kyi, 77, has already been convicted of offenses including violating coronavirus restrictions, sedition, and election fraud. She has been sentenced to a total of 33 years in prison. Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said her sentences were unfair and politically motivated.

Who is Aung San Suu Kyi? Suu Kyi spent about 15 years as a political prisoner under house arrest from 1989 to 2010 for her resistance to military rule in Myanmar. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 and her National League for Democracy party was elected in 2015. Her government was criticized for ignoring atrocities committed in 2017 against the Muslim Rohingya minority, and the army seized control of the country in 2021. She is now held in a newly constructed separate building at a prison in the capital city, with three policewomen assigned to assist her. 

Dig deeper: Listen to Paul Butler’s report on The World and Everything in It podcast about the military’s refusal to hear civilians call for democratic government restoration.