Myanmar’s Supreme Court has agreed to hear a special appeal of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s bribery conviction for allegedly receiving gold and thousands of dollars from a former political ally, legal officials said Tuesday.
Suu Kyi, 77, was arrested when the army toppled her elected government in February 2021, and was tried on a range of charges for which she was sentenced to a total of 33 years in prison.
Her supporters and independent legal experts say the cases were politically motivated in an attempt to discredit her and legitimise the military’s takeover while preventing her from returning to politics. Two legal officials familiar with Suu Kyi’s cases said the Supreme Court decided last Friday to hear the special appeal of the corruption case, in which she was convicted of receiving USD 600,000 and seven gold bars in 2017-18 from Phyo Min Thein, the former chief minister of Yangon, the country’s biggest city. She was sentenced to five years in prison in April last year after being found guilty of bribery.