Myanmar Court Slaps 4-Yr Prison Sentence On Aung San Suu Kyi

A court in Myanmar on Monday, Dec. 6, 2021, sentenced the country’s ousted civilian leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, to four years for inciting public unrest and breaching COVID-19 protocols.

Photo Insert: Aung San Suu Kyi addressing the crowds in Oslo

She faces a series of rulings that could keep her locked up for the rest of her life, Sui-Lee Wee reported for the New York Times.

Aung San Suu Kyi, who was detained in a military coup in February, is facing a total of 11 charges and maximum imprisonment of 102 years. Her trials, which the United Nations and foreign governments have described as politically motivated, have been held in closed-door hearings in Naypyidaw, Myanmar’s capital.

The junta has barred all five of her lawyers from speaking to the news media, saying that their communications could “destabilize the country.” Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, 76, is a flawed hero for a troubled nation.

She is held up as an almost godlike figure among her supporters in Myanmar, who describe 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.

At night, protesters continued to demonstrate in the streets, and residents banged pots and pans to register their anger. In the months since the coup, people have gathered in the streets, doctors and nurses have stopped work in protest, and many have refused to pay taxes in a campaign known as the Civil Disobedience Movement.

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