Myanmar's Junta has sentenced Suu Kyi's female bodyguard to prison

[ASEAN NOW Content Team]

 

According to her lawyer, Myanmar's military administration has condemned the female former bodyguard of jailed State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to three years in prison.

Cherry Htet, a 30-year-old Myanmar Police second lieutenant, was accused with breaking police standards for supporting the overthrown leader on social media.
On December 30, she was sentenced.

 

"The police court convicted her to three years and remanded her to Yamethin Prison the same day," her lawyer, U Myint Thwin, said.
The lawyer stated that he would be unable to attend the sentencing in Naypyitaw, Myanmar's capital.

Suu Kyi's former bodyguard had been incarcerated in Naypyitaw Prison since September 23, 2021, after being placed under surveillance following the junta's February 2021 coup and subsequently detained under house arrest in a building behind the Naypyitaw police special branch headquarters.

Because Naypyitaw's jail does not hold criminals serving sentences of three years or more, she was moved to Yamethin Prison in Mandalay Region.

 

In addition, the officer faces a charge of inciting, which carries a maximum term of three years in prison.

Cherry Htet was accused of writing on March 14, 2021, "We miss you Amay (mother)," a common Myanmar epithet for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
"If you don't dare to be loud about justice, keep your mouth shut and don't declare there is justice," she allegedly said in another message on March 6.

In addition, the former bodyguard is accused of contacting with a lawmaker from the National League for Democracy and getting intelligence regarding the civilian National Unity Government.

 

Last July, Ko Zaw Naing Win, a close assistant of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and deputy director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was sentenced to seven years in prison for breaching a civil servant's trust by joining the junta's Civil Disobedience Movement.