Myanmar's Shadow Government Calls Aung San Suu Kyi's Corruption Conviction "Farce"

[ASEAN NOW Content Team]

 

The Ministry of Justice of Myanmar's parallel National Unity Government (NUG) has condemned the junta's new prison sentence for corruption against State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, a woman famed for her moral integrity.

The jailed leader was sentenced to five years in prison by a special court established up by the junta in Naypyitaw on Wednesday.
The sentence will be added to the six years she has already served for the regime's previous cases against her.

 

She was found guilty in a corruption case in which she was accused of accepting a bribe in the shape of gold bars from Yangon's previous chief minister.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who was deposed by the military in February last year, has categorically denied the charges.

In response to the latest sentencing, NUG Justice Minister and famous lawyer U Thein Oo said in a statement released on Monday that the junta pretended to have evidence that the nation's most respected leader had accepted bribes worth US$600,000 in gold bars.

 

"Such a claim is clearly ridiculous," he responded, knowing that she has spent her entire life fighting for the freedom of Myanmar's people, including decades in prison and under house arrest.

 

The 76-year-old leader is well-liked in Myanmar, both at home and abroad, for her moral principles and for sticking up for the people; they reject the junta's allegations of wrongdoing against her.

NUG In an interview with The Irrawaddy, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs U Moe Zaw Oo, who is also the executive director of a charity formed by the ousted leader, said the jailed leader has given so much of her own money to charity that she no longer has a home or any financial assets.

"I don't see how they could charge such a person with corruption," he added, adding that the prosecution appears to be motivated by a personal vendetta.

 

The National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, scored a resounding win in the 2020 general election, defeating the military's proxy party and associated parties.
The military staged a coup on Feb. 1 last year, arresting Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, President U Win Myint, and others only hours before the newly elected MPs were to take their seats, claiming electoral fraud despite independent election monitors finding no abnormalities in the election.

Since then, she has been held in an unidentified location and has been subjected to a bombardment of 20 illogical court proceedings.
Thirteen of them are related to corruption.

 

In a statement released Monday, NUG Minister of Justice U Thein Oo described the junta's so-called trials of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as unjust, lacking in credibility, a farce, and a propaganda ploy.

 

"Once again, this propaganda stunt illustrates two facts about this murdering junta.
First, they are brazen about the charade of a judicial system they have imposed on Myanmar's people.
Second, they are still afraid of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's authority as a symbol of daring in the fight for democracy," the minister continued.