A court in military-ruled Myanmar convicted the country’s former leader Aung San Suu Kyi of corruption and sentenced her to five years in prison Wednesday in the first of several corruption cases against her.
Suu Kyi, who was ousted by an army takeover last year, had denied the allegation that she had accepted gold and hundreds of thousands of dollars given her as a bribe by a top political colleague. A Myanmar junta court accused the 76-year-old leader of accepting a bribe of $600,000 in cash and gold bars.
The case was the first of 11 corruption charges against Suu Kyi, each carrying a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. Since a military coup deposed her government in February last year, plunging the country into major civil unrest, Suu Kyi had been facing a barrage of criminal cases that could see her jailed for decades.
Tanya Singh is pursuing Master’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from Chandigarh University. She is a passionate blogger, who understands the power of words. Tanya is currently working as an Intern at The Shining Media and she is reachable at tanya2801singh@gmail.com
