Suu Kyi from Myanmar faces further imprisonment and hard work for election fraud

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(Reuters) – Deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi was convicted on Friday of election fraud and a judge sentenced him to three years in prison with hard labor, a source familiar with the proceedings said.

The Nobel laureate and Myanmar opposition leader has been detained for decades under military rule since a coup early last year and has already been sentenced to more than 17 years in prison. It denies all allegations against it.

On Friday, she was convicted of fraud in the November 2020 general election that the National League for Democracy won by an overwhelming legislative majority, defeating a party set up by the powerful military.

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The source, who asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to speak to the media, said it was not clear what hard labor entailed. The source said that defendant Win Myint, the ousted president, was sentenced to the same punishment.

Myanmar State Counsellor, Aung San Suu Kyi, attends the Myanmar Investment Conference in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, January 28, 2019. REUTERS/Ann Wang/File photo

A spokesman for the ruling military council did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The junta said Suu Kyi will be given due process.

The military seized power in February 2021 to prevent Suu Kyi’s NLD from forming a new government after elections which it said contained cases of fraud that had not been properly investigated.

The NLD denied the fraud and said it had won fairly.

Suu Kyi, 76, has been on trial for more than a year on multiple charges, ranging from corruption and sedition to leaking official secrets, for which the combined maximum sentence is more than 190 years.

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Her trials were held behind closed doors in the capital, Naypyitaw, and the junta’s statements about the proceedings were limited. A gag order has been placed on Suu Kyi’s lawyer.

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Reporting by Reuters staff. Written by Martin Petty; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Robert Persell

Our criteria: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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