fredag 11. juni 2021

Myanmar military junta charges Aung San Suu Kyi with corruption

Myanmar's deposed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been charged with corruption by the country's military junta, state media reported Thursday, adding to a raft of legal cases against the Nobel Peace Prize laureate. The new charge follows an investigation by the Anti-Corruption Commission into several accusations leveled at Suu Kyi. It found her "guilty of committing corruption using her rank," the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar said. She was charged under the Anti-Corruption Law section 55, and if found guilty could face a maximum prison sentence of 15 years.

Suu Kyi was overthrown from her position of state counselor and de facto leader of the country when the military seized power in a February 1 coup. She has been held in detention since then and charged with a series of crimes her lawyers and supporters consider to be politically motivated.

The commission said Suu Kyi "misused her authority" in renting land and a building to open the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation headquarters, where she served as chairperson. It said an application for the land to establish a Horticulture Vocational School as part of the foundation in the capital, Naypyidaw, was not carried out "in line with the procedures but with her power and authority."