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In the last of a long list of closed trials that have spanned over a year, a military-controlled court in Myanmar has sentenced ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi to an additional seven years of prison time.
She was found guilty on five charges of corruption pertaining to the misuse of state funds for the purchase and lease of a helicopter.
Since Aung San Suu Kyi, a nobel peace laureate, was forcibly removed as the country’s state counsellor at the start of the military coup in February 2021, she has been imprisoned, often in solitary confinement, and charged with multiple crimes that had already racked up more than 26 years of sentencing. These included accepting bribes, illegally possessing walkie-talkies and leasing government-owned land at discounted rates.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s legal team has repeatedly argued she is not guilty. She herself said in November that she was “just giving instructions according to the office procedures”.
Rights groups have long claimed the array of charges are “fabricated” as an attempt to keep the 77-year-old democracy figurehead detained – she is currently in a Naypyidaw prison – and her influence diminished.
“This conviction and the continued imprisonment of state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi is part and parcel of the junta’s ongoing attack against the civilian population of Myanmar,” says Patrick Phongsathorn, senior advocacy specialist at Fortify Rights.
There had been hopes, according to local media, that Aung San Suu Kyi would have her sentence commuted as part of a general amnesty in honour of the new year and 75th anniversary of Myanmar’s Independence Day, which will fall on 4 January. Last year, the junta released a number of political prisoners at this time and reduced Aung San Suu Kyi’s then-sentence by two years.
The leaders are among more than 16,650 others, including children and pro-democracy activists, who have been arrested since the start of the coup. Reports of torture alongside targeted killings have become commonplace.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, the military is to blame for the deaths of more than 2,680 people.
Earlier this month, the UN security council called for political prisoners to be released as well as unimpeded humanitarian access and “an immediate end to all forms of violence” in its first resolution on Myanmar since the brutal conflict began.
This latest guilty charge, Phongsathorn said, showed that despite such calls, the junta was intent on “continuing its reign of terror into 2023”.
“Instead of trying to negotiate with this terrorist regime, the international community must act to starve the junta of weapons, funds and diplomatic recognition.”
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