A Burmese court on Monday sentenced the former head of the civilian government Aung San Suu Kyi to four years in prison for inciting public unrest and violating health rules related to Covid, a junta spokesman told AFP .
The Nobel Peace Prize winner, overthrown by the military in February, “was sentenced to two years in prison under section 505 (b) and two years in prison under the Natural Disasters Act”, Zaw Min Tun told AFP.
Former President Win Myint was given the same sentence, he said, adding that they would not be taken to jail for the time being.
“They will have to face other charges from the places where they are currently staying” in the capital Naypyidaw, he added, without giving further details.
76-year-old Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained since generals overthrew her government in the early hours of February 1, ending a brief democratic hiatus in Burma.
The junta has regularly piled up the charges against it, including violation of the law on official secrets, corruption and electoral fraud.
She faces decades in prison if convicted on all counts.
Journalists are prohibited from attending special court proceedings in the military-built capital, and Suu Kyi’s lawyers were recently banned from speaking to the media.
According to a local rights-based NGO, more than 1,300 people have been killed and more than 10,000 arrested as part of the crackdown on dissent since the coup.