Myanmar’s Aung Suu Kyi gets 4 more years in jail

ISTANBUL

Myanmar's ousted civilian leader Aung Suu Kyi was sentenced on Monday to four more years in jail.

The sentence was announced by a military junta court in the capital Naypyitaw on charges of possessing “illegally imported” walkie-talkies and violation of COVID-19 public health restrictions, according to Myanmar Now, a local news website.

This is the second sentence issued by a junta court since Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government was deposed in a military coup last year.

The Nobel laureate was handed two years for violating the Export-Import Law, one year for violating the Communications Law and another for “violation of COVID-19 public health restrictions during the 2020 election campaign period.”

She will serve the prison terms concurrently.

Last December, she was sentenced to four years in prison for violating pandemic-related health restrictions. Her sentence was later reduced to two years.

There are seven more cases brought against the deposed leader.

The Myanmar military, known locally as the Tatmadaw, launched a military coup in February last year and jailed prominent leaders of the ruling party.

According to the Myanmar-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, some 1,447 people were killed and nearly 8,500 demonstrators were arrested in the military’s brutal crackdown on mass protests and rebellion against their rule.