Myanmar Junta Sentences Suu Kyi To Four Years In Prison

On Monday, the Myanmar dictatorship sentenced Nobel Peace Prize Aung San Suu Kyi to four years in prison, accusing her of incitement against the Military and violation of COVID-19 regulations.

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Using the Penal Code to justify the accusation of "incitement", the accusing court held that her political party, the National League for Democracy (LND), issued several public statements against the recognition of the Military Junta that took the power on February 1.

To justify the charge of violating epidemiological norms, the judges argued that Suu Kyi carried out public acts during the 2020 campaign and breached the Natural Disaster Management Law. Similar charges were issued against deposed President Win Myint and former Naipyido Governor Myo Aung.

The court did not specify which prison the detainees will be sent to. Its sentence also implies the political disqualification of the detainees in the hypothetical case that the Military Junta holds elections.

After they were detained on Feb. 1 along with other officials from the National League for Democracy (NLD), the state power of Myanmar was transferred to Commander-in-Chief of Defense Services Sen-Gen Min Aung Hlaing after the declaration of a state of emergency.

Since her detainment, Aung San Suu Kyi had been accused of 11 offences, while U Win Myint was under two charges of incitement and breaching Natural Disaster Management Law. Trials over more charges against Aung San Suu Kyi were to follow.

The military has alleged massive voting fraud in the country's November 2020 general elections, which saw the NLD win a majority of seats in both houses of parliament. The NLD party won an absolute majority of parliamentary seats in the general elections on Nov. 8, 2015, and had been running the government since 2016. The five-year term of the NLD government was expected to end in March 2021.