Aung San Suu Kyi: Myanmar sentences ex-leader to jail for corruption

Former Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi was convicted guilty of corruption by a court in the military-run country, the latest in a series of secret trials.

Ms. Suu Kyi has been under house arrest since a military coup deposed her elected government in February 2021.

The 76-year-old Nobel Laureate faces a slew of charges, including voter fraud.

She rejects all of the allegations, and human rights organizations have slammed the judicial proceedings as a farce.

The public and media have been barred from the closed-door proceedings in the capital, Nay Pyi Taw, and Ms. Suu Kyi's attorneys have been prevented from speaking to journalists.

A junta court convicted her guilty on Wednesday of accepting a bribe of $600,000 (£477,000) in cash and gold bars from the previous chief of Yangon, Myanmar's largest city and region.

She was given a five-year term. Lawyers told the BBC that they have yet to meet with her.

Because she was previously convicted of additional crimes, her total prison sentence now stands at 11 years.

She was found guilty of inciting unrest against the military and violating public health Covid standards in December. She was also found guilty in January of keeping illegal walkie-talkie radios in her home and violating other Covid guidelines.

Ms. Suu Kyi still faces 10 other corruption charges, each carrying a maximum penalty of 15 years, as well as charges of electoral fraud and violating the official secrets act.

Her supporters say the charges have been trumped up by the junta regime to ensure Ms. Suu Kyi, who remains highly regarded in Myanmar as a democracy icon, is jailed for life.

If convicted on all her charges, she would face a total jail sentence of more than 190 years, by some estimates.

Civil rights and democracy groups, as well as the UN, have denounced the legal proceedings as a farce. Human Rights Watch has called it a "courtroom circus of secret proceedings on bogus charges".

Myanmar's military regime has dismissed such allegations, saying Ms. Suu Kyi has received fair trials and due legal process so far.

The military's violent seizure of power last February in Myanmar, also known as Burma, came months after Ms. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won general elections by a landslide.

The military said the victory was based on voter fraud, while impartial election observers declared the elections were mostly free and fair.

Following the coup, Myanmar's military retaliated by cracking down on pro-democracy protesters, activists, and media.

More than 10,000 people have been arrested by the junta since they seized power, including Ms. Suu Kyi and many members of her party.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, about 1,800 individuals have been killed as a result of the military's crackdown on the opposition (Burma).

Fighting has also continued as a result of the disarray. The military junta is facing enormous opposition, and armed violence has erupted in several sections of the country.