Myanmar court imprisons Suu Kyi for 7 more years on corruption charges

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Aung San Suu Kyi
A Myanmar junta court has jailed ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi for seven years for corruption, ending the 18-month trial of the Nobel laureate.

According to international media reports, Suu Kyi was sentenced to seven years on five counts of corruption on Friday related to the hiring and maintaining of a helicopter that had caused a "loss to the state", a legal source said, adding there were "no more charges" against her.

Suu Kyi has been a prisoner since the generals toppled her government in February last year, ending the Southeast Asian nation's brief experiment with democracy.

The Nobel laureate, 77, has already been found guilty on a raft of charges ranging from corruption to illegally importing walkie-talkies and breaching the official secrets act and has been jailed for 26 years.

Journalists have been barred from the proceedings, which rights groups have slammed as a sham designed to remove Suu Kyi from Myanmar's political scene.

Each offence carries a maximum jail term of 15 years. In previous corruption cases, the court has generally sentenced Suu Kyi to three years per charge.

Last week, in the United Nations Security Council's first resolution on the situation in Myanmar since the coup, it called on the junta to release Suu Kyi.

It was a moment of relative unity by the council after permanent members and close junta allies China and Russia abstained, opting not to wield vetoes following amendments to the wording.

Suu Kyi is currently imprisoned in a compound in the capital Naypyidaw, close to the courthouse where her trial is being held and has been deprived of her household staff and pet dog Taichido.

Since the coup, she has largely disappeared from public view, seen only in grainy state media photos from the bare courtroom.

The country has been plunged into turmoil, with some established ethnic rebel groups renewing fighting with the military in border areas, and the economy in tatters.

 

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