London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

Myanmar sentences ex-leader Suu Kyi to jail for corruption

Myanmar sentences ex-leader Suu Kyi to jail for corruption

A court in military-ruled Myanmar has found former leader Aung Sun Suu Kyi guilty of corruption, the latest verdict in a series of secret trials.
Suu Kyi has been under house arrest since February 2021 when a military coup ousted her elected government.

The 76-year-old Nobel laureate has been charged with a raft of criminal offenses including voter fraud.

She denies all of the accusations and rights groups have condemned the court trials as a sham.

The closed-door hearings in the capital Nay Pyi Taw have been shut to the public and media, and Suu Kyi's lawyers are forbidden from speaking to journalists.

On Wednesday a junta court found her guilty of taking a $600,000 (£477,000) bribe in the form of cash and gold bars from the former head of Yangon, Myanmar's largest city and region.

She was sentenced to five years in jail, which takes her total prison sentence to 11 years, as she was previously found guilty for other offenses.

In December, she was convicted of inciting dissent against the military and breaking public health Covid rules. In January she was also found guilty of having contraband walkie-talkie radios in her house and breaching more Covid rules.

Suu Kyi still faces 10 other corruption charges, each carrying a maximum penalty of 15 years, as well as charges on electoral fraud and violating the official secrets act.

Her supporters say the charges have been trumped up by the junta regime to ensure Suu Kyi, who remains highly regarded in Myanmar as a democracy icon, is jailed for life.

If convicted on all her charges, she would face a total jail sentence of more than 190 years, by some estimates.

Civil rights and democracy groups, as well as the UN, have denounced the legal proceedings as a farce. Human Rights Watch has called it a "courtroom circus of secret proceedings on bogus charges".

Myanmar's military regime has dismissed such allegations, saying Suu Kyi has received fair trials and due legal process so far.

The military's violent seizure of power last February in Myanmar, also known as Burma, came months after Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won general elections by a landslide.

The military alleged voter fraud in the victory, however independent election observers said the elections were largely free and fair.

The coup triggered widespread demonstrations, prompting Myanmar's military to crack down on pro-democracy protesters, activists and journalists.

Suu Kyi - and many members of her party - are among more than 10,000 people who have been arrested by the junta since they seized power.

Nearly 1,800 people have been killed in the military's crackdown on dissent, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma).

The chaos has also led to continued fighting. The military junta faces widespread opposition and some parts of the country are now engulfed in armed conflict.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×