Military-ruled Myanmar Sentences Former Leader to 5 Years

Military-ruled Myanmar Sentences Former Leader to 5 Years

A court in military-ruled Myanmar has found the country's former leader Aung San Suu Kyi guilty of corruption¹.

The court sentenced Suu Kyi to five years in prison Wednesday in the first of several corruption cases against her.

Suu Kyi was ousted² by an army takeover in February of last year. She has denied accusations³ that she had accepted gold and hundreds of thousands of dollars given to her as a bribe⁴ by a top political official.

Both her supporters and independent legal experts consider her prosecution⁵ unjust. They believe it is an attempt to discredit⁶ Suu Kyi and legitimize the military's seizure⁷ of power. The court ruling also prevents the 76-year-old elected leader from returning to political office.

Suu Kyi is the daughter of Aung San, Myanmar's founding leader. She became famous in 1988 during a failed uprising against an earlier military government. She spent 15 of the next 21 years under house arrest for leading a nonviolent movement for democracy.

The army permitted an election in 2015 in which her party won a large victory. She then became the leader of the country.

However, Suu Kyi has also been criticized for ignoring human rights violations⁸. She has defended a 2017 military campaign against Rohingya Muslims. Rights groups have called it genocide.

She has already been sentenced to six years in prison in other cases. She faces 10 more corruption charges. The most severe punishment possible under the Anti-Corruption Act is 15 years in prison and a fine. If she is convicted in other cases, she could be sentenced to more than 100 years in prison.

Moe Thuzar is with the Yusof Ishak Institute, a Southeast Asian studies center in Singapore. He said the charges are only believable to the court and the military's supporters.

"Even if there were any legitimate⁹ concerns or complaints about corruption...enforced military rule (is) certainly not the way to pursue such concerns."

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won a large victory in the 2020 general election. But the army seized power on February 1, 2021. The military arrested Suu Kyi and many officials in her party and government. The army said it took power because there had been widespread fraud in the election. But independent election observers said they did not find any major evidence of fraud.

Afterwards, there were large protests nationwide, which security forces crushed. The rights group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said the campaign led to the deaths of almost 1,800 civilians¹⁰. Now some United Nations experts say the country is in a state of civil war.

In an earlier case, Suu Kyi was sentenced to six years in prison for illegally importing and owning mobile communications devices. She has also been found guilty of violating coronavirus restrictions¹¹ and sedition¹².

In the case decided¹³ Wednesday, she was accused of receiving $600,000 and seven gold bars from the former chief minister of Yangon. That is the country's biggest city. The chief minster was also a top member of her political party. Her lawyers denied all charges he made against her.

The nine other cases are currently being tried under the Anti-Corruption Act. They include several related to the purchase of an aircraft by one of Suu Kyi's former Cabinet members.

Suu Kyi is also being tried on a charge of violating the Official Secrets Act and on a charge claiming election fraud.

Phil Robertson is the deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch. He said: "Destroying popular democracy in Myanmar also means getting rid of Aung San Suu Kyi, and the junta¹⁴ is leaving nothing to chance."

Words in This Story

bribe — v. to give something valuable, like money, to an official in order to get them to do something that is dishonest or illegal

prosecution — n. the act or process of trying someone in a court of law to see if they are guilty of a crime they are charged with

legitimize — v. to make something acceptable, real or official

convict — n. to prove someone is guilty of a crime in a court of law

pursue — v. to make an effort to find out more about an issue or to do something about it

fraud — n. the crime of using dishonest methods to take something valuable from another person

sedition –n. the crime of saying, writing, or doing something that encourages people to disobey their government

junta — n. a group of military officers who control a government after taking control of it by force

1 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

2 ousted   

驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• He was ousted as chairman. 他的主席职务被革除了。
• He may be ousted by a military takeover. 他可能在一场军事接管中被赶下台。

3 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

4 bribe   

n.贿赂；v.向…行贿，买通

参考例句：

• He tried to bribe the policeman not to arrest him.他企图贿赂警察不逮捕他。
• He resolutely refused their bribe.他坚决不接受他们的贿赂。

5 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。

6 discredit   

vt.使不可置信；n.丧失信义；不信，怀疑

参考例句：

• Their behaviour has bought discredit on English football.他们的行为败坏了英国足球运动的声誉。
• They no longer try to discredit the technology itself.他们不再试图怀疑这种技术本身。

7 seizure   

n.没收；占有；抵押

参考例句：

• The seizure of contraband is made by customs.那些走私品是被海关没收的。
• The courts ordered the seizure of all her property.法院下令查封她所有的财产。

8 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

9 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

10 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

11 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

12 sedition   

n.煽动叛乱

参考例句：

• Government officials charged him with sedition.政府官员指控他煽动人们造反。
• His denial of sedition was a denial of violence.他对煽动叛乱的否定又是对暴力的否定。

13 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

14 junta   

n.团体；政务审议会

参考例句：

• The junta reacted violently to the perceived threat to its authority.军政府感到自身权力受威胁而进行了激烈反击。
• A military junta took control of the country.一个军政权控制了国家。