Aung San Suu Kyi was found guilty of corruption and sentenced to five years in jail. A Myanmar junta court accused her of accepting a bribe of $600,000 cash and gold bars. It was the first of 11 corruption charges against her. Each carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
Journalists were still barred from attending court proceedings, and Suu Kyi’s lawyers were forbidden from speaking to the press.
Suu Kyi has been facing a barrage of criminal cases since a military coup deposed her government in February last year, plunging the country into major civil unrest.
The 76-year-old was already sentenced to six years in prison for inciting military retaliation, violating Covid-19 rules, and violating a telecommunications law, but she will remain under house arrest while she fights other charges.
According to a local monitoring group, more than 1,700 people have been killed and over 13,000 arrested in a crackdown on dissent since the coup.
