Burma: Aung San Suu Kyi collaborator sentenced to 20 years in prison for treason

Published on : 10/29/2021 – 15:08

Aung San Suu Kyi’s party in the sights of the Burmese junta. A close associate of the former leader was sentenced, Friday, October 29, to 20 years in prison for treason, his lawyer announced.

“U Win Htein was sentenced to 20 years in prison under section 124a by a special court,” lawyer Myint Thwin told AFP, adding that they would appeal.

The former MP is the first high-ranking member of the National League for Democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, to be sentenced by the junta after a trial. This 80-year-old man is a long-time political prisoner, who for a long time, both in detention and when he was out of prison, campaigned against the military regime.

Considered the right-hand man of Aung San Suu Kyi, he has often been called upon by the international and national media to hear the opinions of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

Opposing the military coup

Before being arrested three days after the military coup of February 1, he told the Burmese media that the coup was not the manifestation of great wisdom and that its perpetrators “drove (the country) in the wrong direction “.

Aung Suu Kyi faces a slew of charges that could land her in prison for decades, including both the illegal importation of walkie-talkies and the failure to follow anti-warfare rules. the Covid-19. She testified for the first time in a junta court on Tuesday, four months after being tried by the military, a source familiar with the matter told AFP.

The media were not allowed to attend the leader’s trial at the special court in Naypyidaw, the capital built by the generals, and the junta recently banned its legal team from speaking to the media.

With AFP