Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi received a four-year jail term on December 6 on charges of incitement and violations of a law on natural disasters, a source familiar with the proceedings said, Report informs referring to Reuters.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also said ousted President Win Myint got the same jail sentence in the first verdicts against the former leaders who were put on trial after the military seized power in a coup on February 1.
Aung San Suu Kyi, 76, is a flawed hero for a troubled nation, The New York Times reports.
She is held up as an almost godlike figure among her supporters in Myanmar, who describes her as a defender of the country’s democracy — a struggle for which she won a Nobel Peace Prize. But her reputation on the international stage was tarnished over her complicity in the military’s mass atrocities against the Rohingya, a Muslim minority group.
Aung San Suu Kyi, who was detained in a military coup in February, had been facing maximum imprisonment of 102 years on a total of 11 charges.
The charge of breaching Covid-19 protocols stems from an episode during the 2020 election campaign in which Aung San Suu Kyi stood outside, in a face mask and face shield, and waved to supporters passing by in vehicles.