A special court in Myanmar’s capital on Monday sentenced Aung San Suu Kyi, the country’s ousted leader to four years in prison.
According to a legal official, the prison sentence comes after finding her guilty of incitement and violating coronavirus restrictions.
This is the first verdict in a series of verdicts that could potentially jail her for life.
Charges faced by Suu Kyi
The judgement is the first in a series of cases against the National League for Democracy leader following the overthrow of her government.
A total of 11 charges have been levelled against her. This also includes corruption, violating the Official Secret Act, telecom law and violation of Covid regulations among many others.
The 76-year-old Nobel prize Laureate is seeing a prison sentence of 102 years.
Co-defendant Win Myint, the former President and Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party ally, was also jailed on Monday for four years under the same charges.
It is to be noted that Suu Kyi has been in detention since a military coup in February which toppled her elected civilian government.
Reactions from several world leaders
UN Human Rights chief Michelle Bachelet condemned the ‘sham trial’ and said it would only “deepen rejection of the coup.”
“The arbitrary detention of the elected politicians only risks further unrest,” she said.
Earlier, Phil Robertson, Deputy Asia Director, Human Rights Watch, Had saud in a statement that the charges Suu Kyi faced are”bogus and politically motivated” and “should be dropped, resulting in her immediate and unconditional release.”
Protests in Myanmar
Suu Kyi’s detention has sparked protests across Myanmar, demanding her release. Anti-military protests on Saturday in Yangon against the overthrow of the elected government resulted in at least five deaths and 15 arrests.
