Myanmar’s apex court rejects Suu Kyi’s corruption conviction appeals

Bangkok, Oct 6 (EFE) .- Myanmar’s Supreme Court has turned down recent appeals by the country’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, seeking to overturn her conviction in several corruption cases brought against her by the military junta after the 2021 coup.

Suu Kyi’s legal team had filed appeals in at least six corruption related cases for which she was handed a combined nine-year prison sentence, court officials said on Friday.

Following the systematic rejection of her appeals by the Supreme Court, a source close to Suu Kyi has said that the jailed leader now has the option to submit a fresh appeal to the country’s ministry of justice.

On August 29, the Supreme Court had rejected another set of appeals from Suu Kyi, seeking a revision of her sentences for various offences, including violations of COVID-19 pandemic regulations, illegal possession of walkie-talkies, and sedition charges.

Suu Kyi, who is reportedly suffering from health problems such as dizziness and gum issues, continues to plead her innocence amid international calls for her unconditional release from the prison.

The 78-year-old Nobel Peace laureate has been in detention since February 2021, when the military junta seized power from her elected government in a coup, abruptly ending a decade of nascent democracy in the country.

She has been seen publicly only once since then, with the junta banning her lawyers from speaking to the press.

Suu Kyi was handed a 27-year prison sentence after being found guilty of various charges, including election fraud, misuse of power, disclosure of official secrets, and corruption. Her legal team vehemently denies these charges.

The leader, renowned for her nonviolent struggle for democracy in Myanmar, had previously spent a decade and a half under house arrest during the previous military regimes between 1989 and 2011.

The military coup has plunged Myanmar into a deep political, social and economic crisis and triggered a spiral of violence, particularly with the emergence of new anti-junta militias that have exacerbated the country’s decades-long ethnic conflicts.

According to nonprofit Association for the Assistance of Political Prisoners (AAPP), there Myanmar currently has 19,669 political prisoners, and 4,142 people have lost their lives at the hands of the Myanmar army since the coup. EFE

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