Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi is facing corruption charges from the country’s military junta in addition to a large number of legal cases against her, days before she is due to go on formal trial. The Nobel laureate was under house arrest since the military seized power in a coup in February 2021.
The corruption charge is followed by an investigation done by the Anti-corruption Commission of Myanmar. The investigation reveals that Aung San Suu Kyi was found guilty of committing corruption by using her rank as the country leader and was charged under section 55 of Anti-corruption law. If found guilty of the charge, Suu Kyi might face a prison sentence of 15 years maximum.
In a military coup in February, Suu Kyi was overthrown from the position of de facto leader and state counselor of the country. She has been in house arrest since then and has been charged with a series of crimes. According to the commission, Suu Kyi misused her power for renting land and building for the headquarters of Dhan Khin Kyi Foundation, where she is the chairperson.
She is also accused of accepting gold and 600,000 dollars from the former chief minister of the Yangon region in Myanmar. Khin Maw Zaw, Suu Kyi’s lawyer says the accusations of bribery and corruption are absurd and groundless. Apart from Suu Kyi, three other former officials were also facing charges for corruption. The case files were opened on Wednesday.
Aung Suu Kyi has already been charged with numerous other offenses including possession of unlicensed walkie-talkies, breaching the country’s colonial era official secrets act, and violating COVID-19 restrictions during election camping. The trial for above charges is to be held on June 14 and is expected to be completed by July 26.
During the November 2020 elections in Myanmar, General Min Aung Hlaing led the military to seize power claiming that there was widespread voter fraud in the elections. The election commission denied any kind of voting fraud in the elections. The country witnessed widespread violence and bloodshed after the military coup. A nationwide pro-democracy protest and civil disobedience movement was carried out in the country. The general met this protest with force and killed more than 850 people. Also, more than 5,900 people have been arrested since the coup. The arrested people include protestors, journalists, government officials, celebrities, and activists.
