Kangaroo Justice

Listen to Today's Edition
Voiced by Amazon Polly

A court in Myanmar found Aung San Suu Kyi guilty of corruption Wednesday, the latest verdict against the former civilian leader, who was detained under a series of charges following last year’s military coup, BBC reported.

The court sentenced the Nobel Peace Prize laureate to five years in prison for taking a $600,000 bribe in the form of cash and gold bars from the former head of Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city and region.

She has already been convicted of inciting dissent against the military and breaking Covid-19 health rules. Earlier this year, she was found guilty of having contraband walkie-talkie radios and breaching more Covid-19 rules.

The latest verdict brings her total prison sentence to 11 years but she still faces a myriad of other accusations including voter fraud. If convicted on all her charges, she would face a total jail sentence of more than 190 years, by some estimates.

Suu Kyi has denied the allegations. Her supporters and human rights groups, meanwhile, have denounced the proceedings as a farce and an attempt to jail her for life.

The country’s military junta, however, maintains that the trials have been fair.

In February 2021, the army overthrew Suu Kyi’s democratically-elected government, which resulted in mass pro-democracy protests against the junta. The military responded by launching a bloody crackdown against demonstrators, which has killed nearly 1,800 people and arrested more than 10,000.

Not already a subscriber?

If you would like to receive DailyChatter directly to your inbox each morning, subscribe below with a free two-week trial.

Subscribe today

Support journalism that’s independent, non-partisan, and fair.

If you are a student or faculty with a valid school email, you can sign up for a FREE student subscription or faculty subscription.

Questions? Write to us at hello@dailychatter.com.

You don't have credit card details available. You will be redirected to update payment method page. Click OK to continue.

Copy link