Myanmar's Suu Kyi hit with new convictions, jail term

Gulf Today Report

A Myanmar junta court on Monday convicted Aung San Suu Kyi of three criminal charges, sentencing her to four years in jail on several charges including possession of unlicensed walkie-talkies

The Nobel laureate has been detained since February 1 when her government was forced out in an early morning coup, ending Myanmar's short-lived experiment with democracy.

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The generals' power grab triggered widespread dissent, which security forces sought to quell with mass detentions and bloody crackdowns in which more than 1,400 civilians have been killed, according to a local monitoring group.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since a Feb. 1 coup against elected government led to widespread protests.

The court handed down a two-year sentence to Suu Kyi for breaching the export-import law by possessing the handheld radios and one year for having a set of signal jammers. The two sentences will run concurrently, said the source.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since a Feb. 1 coup against Suu Kyi's democratically elected government led to widespread protests and raised international concern about the end of tentative political reforms since the end of decades of military rule.

She was also sentenced to two years on another charge of breaching the natural disaster management law related to coronavirus rules, a source familiar with the proceedings said.

A source with knowledge of the case told AFP the 76-year-old was found guilty of two charges related to illegally importing and owning walkie-talkies and one of breaking coronavirus rules.

Junta spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun confirmed the verdicts and sentences and told AFP Suu Kyi would remain under house arrest while other cases against her proceed.

The walkie-talkie charges stem from when soldiers raided her house on the day of the coup, allegedly discovering the contraband equipment.