Junta Should 'Unconditionally Release' Suu Kyi: Human Rights Watch On Verdict Against Ousted Leader

Brad Adams, Asia director at HRW, said the junta is using this “sham court proceeding to wipe out all opposition” to military dictatorship.

Aung San Suu Kyi (Image Source: AFP)

Bangkok:  Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday said Myanmar’s junta should immediately quash the verdict against ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been handed a four-year prison term.

Brad Adams, Asia director at HRW, said the junta is using this “sham court proceeding to wipe out all opposition” to military dictatorship.

“Aung San Suu Kyi's guilty verdict has been guaranteed since Myanmar's military detained her on February 1, and more baseless convictions and sentences can be expected to be piled on in the future,” ANI quoted Adams as saying.

“The junta is using this sham court proceeding to wipe out all opposition to military dictatorship. Yet since the coup and Suu Kyi's arrest, millions have taken to the streets to protest for freedom and democracy,” he added.

Adams further said the junta should “unconditionally release” Aung San Suu Kyi and all others facing politically motivated charges.

The rights group said the junta has detained thousands of protesters, activists, journalists, and others on charges that are similarly unjust as those against Aung San Suu Kyi.

HRW said the verdict against her should remind foreign governments of the need to adopt urgent measures to press for the release of everyone arbitrarily detained and to bring the junta's leadership to justice.

Earlier on Monday, a special court in Myanmar’s capital sentenced 76-year-old Suu Kyi to four years in prison after being found guilty of inciting the public against the military and breaching the Covid-19 protocols in the country.

The 76-year-old  Nobel Peace laureate, however, faces two years in jail after her sentence was halved by the country’s military.

Suu Kyi, who was the leader of Myanmar prior to the February military coup, faces an additional 10 politically motivated charges, including for possessing unlicensed walkie-talkies, corruption, and election fraud, carrying a total potential sentence of more than 100 years in prison.