Friday, 29 Mar, 2024

International

Aung San Suu Kyi, adviser jailed in Myanmar over state secrets

International Desk | banglanews24.com
Update: 2022-09-29 11:44:14
Aung San Suu Kyi, adviser jailed in Myanmar over state secrets

Myanmar’s elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been found guilty of breaching the country’s official secrets act by a secretive military court, the latest of a string of convictions brought by the generals who removed her from office in a coup last year.

Aung San Suu Kyi was given a three-year sentence on Thursday, an official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to release information about the case, told the Associated Press news agency.

Her economic adviser, Sean Turnell, was also found guilty and sentenced to three years in jail, the official said.

Turnell, an academic at Macquarie University in Sydney, was arrested five days after the February 2021 coup. The Australian embassy was not allowed to attend his trial and he was denied a translator during proceedings.

“Three years each, no hard labour,” a source familiar with the proceedings told the Reuters news agency.

The exact details of their alleged offences have not been made public, although state television said last year that Turnell had access to “secret state financial information” and had tried to flee the country. Other members of her economic team were also charged in the case.

Turnell and Aung San Suu Kyi, who is 77, both denied the allegations in the case when they testified in August.

Aung San Suu Kyi has already been sentenced to 20 years in prison in other cases that are widely believed to be aimed at discrediting her and preventing her from ever returning to power.

“What we can see with all these charges being brought against her and all the sentences imposed – we think now at 23 years including hard labour – that is really a life sentence now for Aung San Suu Kyi,” said Al Jazeera’s Tony Cheng who is based in Bangkok but has reported frequently from Myanmar.

As with her previous trials, all sessions were closed to the media and the public, and a gag order barred defence lawyers from revealing details of the proceedings.

Source: Al Jazeera 

BDST: 1144 HRS, SEP 29, 2022
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