© KEYSTONE/AP/Peter Dejong
The Burmese junta is still tightening its grip on Aung San Suu Kyi: the former leader was sentenced Monday to four years in prison in one part of her trial, at the end of which she risks decades of detention.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner, under house arrest since the military coup of February 1, 2021, was notably found guilty of illegally importing walkie-talkies, according to a source familiar with the matter.
“It is a political judgment”, lamented the Norwegian Nobel committee “deeply worried about his situation”.
Aung San Suu Kyi, 76, had already been sentenced in December to four years in detention for violating restrictions on the coronavirus, a sentence reduced to two years by the generals in power.
She is serving this first sentence in the place where she has been held incommunicado since her arrest almost a year ago.
A spokesman for the junta, Major General Zaw Min Tun, confirmed to AFP Monday’s verdict that Ms Suu Kyi would remain under house arrest for the duration of her trial.
This new condemnation is “a snub for ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) which tries in vain to initiate a dialogue in Burma”, reacted Debbie Stothard, of the NGO Alternative ASEAN Network on Myanmar. “The bloc must coordinate more with the UN, the United States and the EU, new sanctions must be imposed against the economic interests of the generals.”
For Manny Maung, from the NGO Human Rights Watch, this verdict risks further reinforcing the anger of the Burmese population.
“Everyone knows that these accusations are false (…) The soldiers use this tactic of fear to keep her in arbitrary detention” and permanently remove her from the political arena, notes the researcher.
Judicial vice
Sedition, corruption, incitement to public unrest, electoral fraud … Aung San Suu Kyi has been indicted on multiple occasions in recent months.
Her trial is being held behind closed doors before a court set up specially in the capital Naypyidaw, where she is being tried alongside one of her faithful, the former President of the Republic Win Myint, also arrested on February 1, 2021. .
Several relatives of the former leader have already been sentenced to heavy sentences: 75 years in prison for a former minister, 20 years for one of his collaborators. Others went into exile or went into hiding.
The coup has plunged the country into chaos. More than 1,400 civilians have been killed by security forces, according to a local NGO, and anti-junta citizen militias have taken up arms across Burma.
The judgment handed down on Monday concerned the illegal importation of walkie-talkies. According to the prosecution, this contraband material was discovered during the search carried out in the official residence of Aung San Suu Kyi during his arrest.
Some members of this commando admitted not having been in possession of any warrant to carry out this raid, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Cut off from the world
Aung San Suu Kyi’s political influence has greatly diminished since the putsch, with a new generation taking up arms against the junta and having more progressive views.
But this icon of democracy during her years under house arrest under previous military dictatorships, daughter of independence hero Aung San, still has a special place in the hearts of the Burmese.
The sentence handed down in December had “caused a deluge of protests on social networks,” recalls Manny Maung.
The Nobel laureate lives cut off from the world, her only links with the outside world being limited to brief meetings with her lawyers, who are forbidden to speak to the press and to international organizations.
At least 175 people, including many members of his party, the National League for Democracy (LND), are believed to have died in custody, “most likely as a result of ill-treatment or acts of torture,” denounced in early December the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet.
The generals justified their passage in force by alleging massive fraud during the 2020 elections, won overwhelmingly by the NLD. They promised to organize a new ballot in 2023.
Ms. Suu Kyi, already sentenced to six years of detention, will therefore not be able to participate if it actually takes place.