Suu Kyi sentenced to hard labour in prison for election fraud

• Myanmar’s deposed former leader Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to three years in prison with hard labour.
• Source says it is the first time hard labor has been used in her sentencing.
• She was found guilty of electoral fraud in the general election in November 2020.

Myanmar’s deposed former leader Aung San Suu Kyi was found guilty of electoral fraud on Friday and sentenced to three years in prison with hard labour, according to a source acquainted with the proceedings.

The Nobel laureate and symbol of Myanmar’s opposition to decades of military rule has been imprisoned since a coup in early last year and has already been sentenced to more than 17 years in prison. She denies all of the claims leveled against her.

On Friday, she was found to have committed fraud in a general election in November 2020 that her National League for Democracy (NLD) won with an overwhelming parliamentary majority, trouncing a party formed by the powerful military.

The source, who did not want to be identified because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said it was the first time hard labour was used in Suu Kyi’s sentencing and it was unclear what it would involve.

According to the source, co-defendant Win Myint, the deposed president, received the same punishment.

The ruling military council’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. According to the junta, Suu Kyi, 77, is being treated fairly.

Former convicts have informed Reuters about the severe circumstances in some Myanmar jails, and there have been media allegations in recent years of shackling and hard labour in quarries at some facilities.

Nonetheless, an official with the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an activist group that monitors detentions, said he did not expect high-profile political prisoners like Suu Kyi to be subjected to hard labour, not least because it would require them to socialise with other inmates.

He further noted that laws governing Myanmar jails state that the elderly and those in poor health should be exempt from such work.

The military seized power in February 2021 to prevent Suu Kyi’s NLD from forming a new government following an election that the military said had incidents of fraud that had not been thoroughly probed.

He further noted that laws governing Myanmar jails state that the elderly and those in poor health should be exempt from such work.

The military seized power in February 2021 to prevent Suu Kyi’s NLD from forming a new government following an election that the military said had incidents of fraud that had not been thoroughly probed.

The NLD has denied any wrongdoing and claims to have won properly.

Suu Kyi has been on trial for more than a year on a variety of allegations ranging from corruption and incitement to leaks of government secrets, the total possible penalty for which is more than 190 years.

Her trials have been held behind closed doors in the capital, Naypyitaw, with the junta making few public pronouncements about the proceedings. Suu Kyi’s lawyers have been placed under a gag order.

Suu Kyi was transported from a secret location to solitary confinement in a prison in the capital Naypyitaw by Myanmar military authorities in June.

In response to a plea from a visiting United Nations official that Suu Kyi be allowed to return home, junta head Min Aung Hlaing stated last month that he would consider placing her under house arrest when all decisions in her trials were reached.

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