Naypyidaw: Myanmar’s deposed leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, was handed a five-year in jail after a court found her guilty in the first of 11 corruption cases against her, international media reported.
Read: Myanmar junta hits Suu Kyi with five new charges
Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate and figurehead of Myanmar’s opposition to military rule, is charged with at least 18 offences carrying a combined maximum jail term of nearly 190 years, killing off any chance of a political comeback.
The judge in the capital, Naypyidaw, handed down the verdict within moments of the court convening but did not explain the judgment in detail because the trial was being held behind closed doors, with information restricted.
Suu Kyi, who attended all of her hearings, was displeased with the outcome and would appeal against the judgment.
The 76-year-old led Myanmar for five years during a short period of tentative democracy before being forced from power in a coup in February 2021 by the military, which had ruled the former British colony for five of the past six decades.
However, it is still to be seen if the deposed leader is transferred to a prison to serve the sentence or not.
Since her arrest, Suu had been held in an undisclosed location, where junta chief Min Aung Hlaing previously said she could remain after earlier convictions in December and January for comparatively minor offences, for which she was sentenced to six years altogether.
The latest case centred on allegations that Suu Kyi accepted 11.4 kg (402 oz) of gold and cash payments totalling $600,000 from her protege-turned-accuser, former chief minister of the city of Yangon, Phyo Min Thein.
Suu Kyi had called the allegations “absurd” and denied all charges against her, including violations of electoral and state secrets laws, incitement and corruption.
