Myanmar court sends Aung San Suu Kyi to five years in jail for corruption

Naypyidaw, Apr 27: A Myanmar court on Wednesday sentenced deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a corruption case to five years in jail after finding her guilty in the first of 11 corruption cases against her, reports Reuters.

The charge relates to allegations that Suu Kyi accepted 11.4 kg of gold and cash payments worth USD 6 lakh from her protege turned accuser Phyo Min Thein who was the chief minister of the city of Yangon.

Earlier, in December last year and January this year she was handed over six years of jail term for breaking a telecommunication law relating to the import of equipment, breaching COVID 19 law and incitement against the military.

The 76 year old Aung San Suu Kyi has been charged with at least 18 offences which carry a combined maximum jail term of 190 years, if convicted.

Meanwhile, Suu Kyi had denied the charges and called the allegations "absurd". It was not immediately clear if Suu Kyi would be transferred to a prison. She has been held in an undisclosed location, where junta leader Min Aung Hlaing said she could remain there after earlier guilty verdicts in other cases.

The international community has dismissed the trials as farcical and has demanded her immediate release. Any spokesman for the junta was not immediately available for comment.