A Myanmar pro-democracy leader was sentenced to four years in prison for “inciting” and “breaking the law” by a court in Yangon, the country’s biggest city, Thursday.
Aung San Suu Kyi is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, but her image in the West has been tarnished by reports of serious human rights abuses in Myanmar since the country’s transition from military rule in 2011.
The court found Suu Kyi guilty of violating terms from the 2008 Peace Agreement, which installed Aung San Suu Kyi as prime minister in Myanmar, officially known as Burma. That agreement forbids any politician from using words to incite violence or discrimination against anyone in the country.
The 65-year-old NLD politician pleaded not guilty. She apologized for calling authorities lazy, saying that she was a party member and she can say her views as a leader. But the court said she had broken the law by using her position to incite the crowd when she held a silent vigil in front of a train station in December 2017 to protest the killings.
“It was not even a flash mob,” court spokesman Ye Htut said in court. “It was a protest group.”
Suu Kyi told the court that she did not support violence against Rohingyas, but also said it was time for them to leave Myanmar.
“What I have done was absolutely unacceptable. I have to apologize for it. I had to stay for longer than I wished to because of my commitment to the NLD,” Suu Kyi said. “This is the past. I stand here in the court again because I know that I have done wrong and I also stand before you as a witness before the court and the court is taking into account everything that I have said.”
The judge ruled that she would not receive a fine or community service as punishment for violating the Peace Agreement. She was first charged with violating the terms in December 2017, when about 30,000 people demonstrated against the Rohingya killings.
Suu Kyi was detained after talks with a committee to review the Peace Agreement and was freed from house arrest in 2010. The government said she broke the law because she advocated her own views on the accord.
The “Rohingya Crisis” has exposed Suu Kyi’s limited influence over the country’s leaders and erosion of international support for her.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.