Conflicts & War

Aung San Suu Kyi faces new corruption accusation in Myanmar

Bangkok, Feb 4 (EFE).- Myanmar’s military junta filed a new complaint for a crime of corruption against ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, already sentenced to six years in prison on other charges, state press reported Friday.

After the February 2021 military coup, the regime began a campaign of judicial harassment against the 76-year-old former leader over accusations to undermine her reputation.

The latest complaint, filed this month by the police, accuses Suu Kyi of appropriating $550,000 donated between 2019 and 2020 to a foundation she presided, The Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported.

Suu Kyi, detained since the coup, was already facing a dozen corruption charges for allegedly receiving bribes, abusing her position by renting land, building a residence with donated funds, and buying and renting helicopters, all crimes punishable with up to 15 years in prison.

The former State Councillor is also tried by a court in the capital for allegedly violating the Official Secrets Law, punishable with a maximum of 14 years in prison, and is accused in court for the crime of electoral fraud during the November 2020 elections.

In early December, Suu Kyi was sentenced to four years in prison, reduced to two when she received a pardon from the military junta, for violating the laws implemented against the pandemic and incitement against the military junta.

The ousted leader was also sentenced on Jan. 10 to four years in prison for skipping measures against the spread of Covid-19 during an electoral act and for the illegal importation of telecommunications devices.

Previously, Suu Kyi’s lawyers, who have been prohibited by the military junta from speaking to the media, point out her representative denies all the accusations made against her.

The coup plunged Myanmar into a deep political, social and economic crisis, and opened a spiral of violence with new civilian militias that have exacerbated the guerrilla war that the country has experienced for decades. EFE

na/lds

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