Bangkok, Dec 6, (dpa/GNA) – A Myanmar court on Monday sentenced ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi to four years in prison for incitement and violating Covid-19 restrictions, according to sources with knowledge of proceeding.
The verdicts were the first in a total of 12 cases which see the Nobel laureate potentially facing jail time totalling more than 100 years.
Suu Kyi, 76, is accused of a range of offences, including violations of a state secrets law, foreign trading laws and breaking coronavirus regulations.
Ousted president Win Myint was also sentenced to four years on the same charges.
Suu Kyi was arrested hours before a coup on February 1, as the military overthrew the country’s democratically elected civilian leaders and once again, put the country under military rule.
The charges are widely seen as trumped up and as being aimed at silencing Myanmar’s veteran pro-democracy campaigner, who has long been a thorn in the side of the ruling military junta.
The trials have been on-going along with co-defendant Win Myint at a court in the capital Naypyitaw, since June.
Myanmar has been in political turmoil, with the military struggling to the resistance forces from peaceful street protests and civil disobedience movements, to armed revolution with hundreds of local resistance forces fighting the military soldiers across the country.
According to rights group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, more than 10,000 people were arrested and almost 1300 people were killed since the coup.
GNA