Deposed Mayanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been sentenced to four years' imprisonment by a Myanmar special court for violating corona virus restrictions. This has been widely criticized.

The sentence has however been reduced to two years by the country’s military junta chief Min Aung Hlaing.

House Arrest
Aung San Suu Kyi was detained before elections in 1989 and kept in house arrest for nearly 15 years between 1989 and 2010 under a previous military government. This made her one of the world’s most prominent political prisoner.

She was freed in 2010 and led her party National League for Democracy (NLD) to a landslide victory in a 2015 election. She was however deposed by a coup in 2021 when the military took control and arrested her.

Aung San Suu Kyi served as the State Counsellor of Myanmar between 2016 and 2021. The post is equivalent to that of the Prime Minister. Aung San Suu Kyi is the youngest daughter of Aung San, hero of Myanmar’s independence from British colonial rule and the Father of Myanmar.

8888 Uprising
Aung San Suu Kyi became famous through 8888 uprising. The 8888 uprising is also called People Power Uprising. It includes a series of protests throughout Myanmar. It was caused by withdrawal of currency notes without compensation, police brutality, economic mismanagement, totalitarian one – party rule of Ne Win, corruption. It led to the resignation of Ne Win.

Why was Aung San Suu Kyi sentenced to jail recently?
She was sentenced to be prisoned for two charges. They are inciting the public against the military of Myanmar and also for breaching COVID1-19 protocols. Currently, she is facing 11 charges that can bring a maximum imprisonment of 102 years. The other major controversial cases against her are as follows:
• Alleged use of walkie – talkies by her security guards
• Corruption in granting permits to buy a helicopter
• Violating the Official Secrets Act

Key Takeaways
Aung San Suu Kyi is the leader of National League for Democracy. The military of Myanmar holds 25% of total seats in the parliament. In 2021, the a newly elected lawmakers were to hold the first session of the parliament. The military imposed a state of emergency just before the session citing voting fraud in the elections. Through emergency, the military grabbed the power in coup. This was the third time the military grabbed power in this Southeast Asian nation Myanmar since its independence from British rule in 1948. Following the coup, Aung San Suu Kyi was detained. Such scenarios where military grabs power is called coup de tat.

In 1991, Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been criticized for her treatment of the country's mostly Muslim Rohingya minority.