According to a source familiar with the case, the judge pronounced the verdict immediately after convening the hearing. The source wishes to remain anonymous as he is not authorized to speak to the media.
After this conviction, Suu Kyi’s total prison sentence will be eleven years. This excludes a political comeback for the 76-year-old Nobel Prize winner in the Southeast Asian country.
The court in Naypyidaw found her guilty of taking bribes totaling USD 600,000 and 11.4 kilograms of gold from the former senior official of the city of Yangon. He testified against Suu Kyi in October, saying he bribed her in exchange for her support.
Suu Kyi was ousted as the elected leader in February last year by General Min Aung Hlaing, who is cracking down on dissidents with brutal force. He imprisoned her in an undisclosed location without visitors.
According to observers, the junta is trying to discredit Suu Kyi with the lawsuits after her National League for Democracy (NLD) party won more than 80 percent of the seats in the 2020 parliamentary elections.
“Destroying democracy in Myanmar also means getting rid of Aung San Suu Kyi and the junta is leaving nothing to chance,” said Phil Robertson, Human Rights Watch’s vice president for Asia.
The military has accused Suu Kyi of a range of crimes, including violating the colonial-era state secrets law and multiple charges of corruption. She faces a total of 190 years in prison.
Sham
Suu Kyi, the daughter of the late independence hero Aung San, has denied all the charges, calling them “absurd.” The international community sees all the trials against her as a sham and has demanded her immediate release.
The hearings are being held behind closed doors in Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw. The junta has banned Suu Kyi’s five lawyers from speaking to the media because their comments could destabilize the country, the generals said.
Myanmar’s military has been terrorizing its own people for decades with brutal violence. Airstrikes, massacres, rapes and village burnings have continued since the military took power in February and have spread from border areas with ethnic minorities to central parts of the country.
The country has been in chaos since the coup. At least 1,794 people have been killed in violence by the army, according to the Myanmar political refugee organization AAPP. But the real number is probably much higher.