BANGKOK: A legal official said that in the final of a series of criminal cases against Aung San Suu Kyi, a court in military-ruled Myanmar convicted the country's ousted leader of corruption on Friday and gave her seven years in prison.
After a string of politically motivated prosecutions since the army overthrew her elected government in February 2021, the court's decision places her in jail for a total of 33 years.
She has also been found guilty of a number of other offenses, earning her a total of 26 years in prison. According to her backers and independent analysts, the allegations against her are an attempt to disqualify her from politics and legitimize the military's power grab before the promised election next year.
A legal official, who requested anonymity out of fear of being punished by the authorities, made public the verdict on Friday in the specially constructed courtroom in the main prison on the outskirts of the capital, Naypyitaw. The media, diplomats, and spectators were not allowed to attend the trial, and a gag order forbade her attorneys from discussing it.