Suu Kyi received a th൲ree-year sentence after being tried and convicted with Australian economist Sean Turnell under the secrets law, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to release information about the case.
A court in military-ruled Myanmar convicted former leader ꧅Aung San Suu Kyi in another criminal case Thursday and sentenced Australian economist Sean Turnell to three years in prison for violating Myanmar's official secrets act, a legal official said.
💟Suu Kyi rec🦩eived a three-year sentence after being tried and convicted with Turnell under the secrets law, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to release information about the case.
Three members of her Ca൩binet w♚ere also found guilty, each receiving sentences of three years.
Turnell, an associa♌te professor i😼n economics at Sydney's Macquarie University, had served as an adviser to Suu Kyi, who was detained in the capital Naypyitaw when her elected government was ousted by the army on Feb. 1, 2021.
He has been in detention for almost 20 months. He was arrested five days after the military takeover by security forces at a hotel in Yangon, the country's bigge꧙st city, while waiting for a car to take him to the city's international airport.
He had arrived back in Myanmar from Australia to take up a new position a🐟s a special consultant to Suu Kyi less than a m꧂onth before he was detained. As director of the Myanmar Development Institute, he already had lived in Naypyitaw for several years.
The day after the miꦜlitary's takeover, he posted a message on T💯witter that he was: “Safe for now but heartbroken for what all this means for the people of Myanmar. The bravest, kindest people I know. They deserve so much better.”
He was charged along with Suu Kyi and the three former Cabinet ministers on the basis of documents seized from him. The exact🃏 details of their offense have not been made public, though state television said last year that Turnell had access 🎉to “secret state financial information” and had tried to flee the country.
Turnell and Suu Kyi denied the allegations when 🐭they testified in their defense at the trial in August.
Turnell was also charged wi𒁏th violating immigration law, but it was not immediately clear what sentence he received for that.
Myanmar's colonial-era official secrets act criminalizes the possession, collection, recording, publi༺shing, or sharin༺g of state information that is “directly or indirectly, useful to an enemy.” The charge carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.
All sessions of the trial, held in♕ a pജurpose-built courtroom in Naypyitaw's main prison, were closed to the media and the public. The defense lawyers were barred by a gag order from revealing details of the proceedings.
The same restrictions ha꧑ve ꦺapplied to all of Suu Kyi's trials.
Th𒐪e case that concluded Thursday is one of several faced by Suu Kyi and is widel🦋y seen as an effort to discredit her to prevent her return to politics.
She had already been sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment after being convicted of illegally importing and possessing walkie-talkies, violating cor♈onavirus restrictions, sedition, election fraud and five corruption charges. The cases are widely seen as being concocted to keep the 77-year-old Suu Kyi from returning to active politics.
Suu Kyi is still being tried on seven counts under the country's anti-cor𒁏ruption law, w🌱ith each count punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a fine.