Myanmar court convicts Suu Kyi of vote fraud, adds jail time

A court in Myanmar on Friday sentenced ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi to three years’ imprisonment with labor after finding her guilty of election fraud, adding more jail time to the 17 years. Suu Kyi is already serving for other offenses prosecuted by the military government.

The most recent decision supports the government's explicit threats to dissolve Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party prior to a new election the military has promised for 2023, which could have huge political consequences for the party.

Suu Kyi's party won the general election in 2020 by a majority, but the army overthrew the government in February of that year, preventing her from serving a second five-year term. 

The army contends it acted because of alleged widespread fraud in the polls though independent election observers did not find any major irregularities.

Some critics of Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who led the takeover and is now Myanmar’s top leader, believe he acted because the vote thwarted his political ambitions.

The military’s seizure prompted widespread peaceful protests that were quashed with lethal force, triggering armed resistance that some U.N. experts now characterize as civil war.

On allegations of unlawfully importing and possessing walkie-talkies, breaking coronavirus prohibitions, sedition, and five counts of corruption, Suu Kyi had already received a 17-year prison term.

Numerous prominent members of her party and government have also been imprisoned, and others have either fled the country or gone into hiding.

Supporters of Suu Kyi and unaffiliated experts claim that all of the allegations against her are politically motivated and an effort to destroy her in order to validate the military's takeover of power while preventing her from entering politics.

Friday’s ruling by the special court at the prison in the capital, Naypyitaw, was conveyed by a legal official who insisted on anonymity for fear of being punished by the authorities, who have restricted the release of information about Suu Kyi’s trials. He said all the defendants appeared in good health.

He said that former president Win Myint and Min Thu, a former minister in the president's office, both received three-year imprisonment as co-defendants in the election fraud case.
All three were sentenced to prison terms with work requirements, a type of punishment apart from hard labour that may include simple workshop work. In the upcoming days, attorneys will submit appeals, he continued.

The Electoral Commission, whose members were replaced by the military after it seized control, lodged the accusation of election fraud against Suu Kyi in November.
It accused that Suu Kyi and her associates violated constitutional rules by allegedly trying to influence the previous commission.

The military-appointed commission accused them of being “involved in electoral processes, election fraud and lawless actions” related to the election.

The commission claimed it has found more than 11 million irregularities in voter lists that could have let voters cast multiple ballots or commit other fraud.

Thein Soe, the new Election Commission chief, has said his agency would consider dissolving Suu Kyi’s party, charging that it had worked illegally with the government to give itself an advantage at the polls

Following a meeting of the ruling National Defense and Security Council two months earlier, state media announced that 2,417 officials had been prosecuted for failing to oversee the electoral processes and that efforts were being made to prosecute voters who cast multiple ballots.

The Election Commission has additionally warned to dissolve Suu Kyi's party if it does not turn over its financial records and outlays for inspection. According to the commission, it was looking into political parties to see if they were maintaining and utilizing finances legally.

 The investigation against Suu Kyi's party, according to commission member Khin Maung Oo, would be delayed as a result of some of its officers being detained and others concealing out. Last year, party officials who managed to avoid being detained declared that they did not accept the military-appointed panel and that its claims were unlawful.

Suu Kyi is currently facing seven counts of corruption accusations, each of which carries a possible penalty of 15 years, as well as a charge of breaking the Official Secrets Act, which carries a maximum punishment of 14 years.