Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi facing four years in prison

Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi looks on as health workers receive a vaccine for COVID-19 at a hospital in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar on Wednesday. The country has reported more than 138,000 infections with 3,069 deaths. Photo: AFP

A Myanmar junta court on Monday convicted Aung San Suu Kyi of three criminal charges, sentencing her to four years in prison in the latest in a slew of cases against the ousted civilian leader.

The Nobel laureate has been detained since February 1 when her government was forced out in an early morning coup, ending Myanmar's short-lived experiment with democracy.

The generals' power grab triggered widespread dissent, which security forces sought to quell with mass detentions and bloody crackdowns in which more than 1,400 civilians have been killed, according to a local monitoring group.

A source with knowledge of the case told AFP the 76-year-old was found guilty of two charges related to illegally importing and owning walkie-talkies and one of breaking coronavirus rules. The walkie-talkie charges stem from when soldiers raided her house on the day of the coup, allegedly discovering the contraband equipment. Monday's sentence adds to the penalties the court handed down in December when she was jailed for four years for incitement and breaching COVID-19 rules while campaigning.

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing cut the sentence to two years and said she could serve her term under house arrest in the capital Naypyidaw.

December's ruling drew international condemnation, and the Myanmar public reverted to old protesting tactics of banging pots and pans in a show of anger. Ahead of the verdict, Manny Maung, a Human Rights Watch researcher, said further convictions would deepen nationwide discontent.