Toppled Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been found guilty of incitement and breaching coronavirus restrictions, charges laid during a military coup that ended the country's brief period of democracy.
Aung San Suu Kyi faces 11 charges, which she denies, and has been detained since the military coup in February ousted her democratically elected government.
The charges have received widespread condemnation and are seen as contrived, with Australia joining the US in calling for the release of Myanmar's deposed democratically elected leader.
The military has defended the coup, claiming fraud allegations in last year's general election gave precedence for their actions. Widespread civilian protests have seen violence and bloodshed in the country.
Aung San Suu Kyi is very familiar with persecution within her nation, spending nearly 15 years in detention at the hands of the military between 1989 and 2010.
The 76-year-old has been heralded as a democracy pioneer in the country, winning a Nobel Peace Prize.
However, after the establishment of democracy and her election win in 2015, her reputation has been significantly damaged by the handling of a human rights crisis in her own country while in power.
How did Aung San Suu Kyi leader go from ‘freedom-fighter’ to ‘defending genocide’?
Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of Myanmar’s independence hero, General Aung, and a prominent political figure, Khin Kyi. She went on to study in New Delhi and Oxford University and married an English historian. The now 76-year-old had two sons, born in London, before returning to Myanmar in 1988. Her return coincided with mass demonstrations for democracy, a movement she joined, which resulted in her arrest.
Aung San Suu Kyi spent almost 15 years, between 1989 and 2010, under house arrest for attempts to bring democracy to her country and take power from military rule.
Her detention gained worldwide attention and she became a symbol for nonviolent resistance. She was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 and a number of other human rights accolades. Aung San Suu Kyi was released in 2010.
In 2015, with the National League for Democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi won the first openly contested election in Myanmar in 25 years.
She became the de-facto leader of the country; the constitution forbid her from becoming president because she has children who are foreign nationals.
Meanwhile, tensions had been growing in the north of the country in Rakhine State, which was home to an estimated one million Rohingya Muslims.
The ethnic minority were targeted by the military in the years following Aung San Suu Kyi’s victory. Allegations of widespread torture, rape and killing have driven hundreds of thousands from Myanmar to Bangladesh and other countries. The violence has been labelled genocide.
Their treatment has been documented by the United Nations, human rights groups, the Bangladesh government and international news media, including Dateline. The government of Myanmar, including Aung San Suu Kyi, denied all allegations of genocide.
Although it is acknowledged that Aung San Suu Kyi did not control the still powerful Myanmar military, as was evident in February, she has been widely criticised for her inaction and denial.
Her government faced criticism for the persecution of journalists, particularly after the detention of two Reuters journalists investigating the killing of ten Rohingya Muslims. Aung San Suu Kyi publicly commented in June 2018 that the journalists "weren't arrested for covering the Rakhine issue", but because they had broken Myanmar's Official Secrets Act.
Accused of excusing genocide
Early last year, the United Nation’s top court ordered Myanmar to take urgent steps to prevent the alleged genocide of Rohingya Muslims in the country.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the judicial arm of the United Nations, also said the majority Buddhist country must "take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts" described by the 1948 Genocide Convention.
These included "killing members of the group" and "deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part".
As Myanmar's leader, Aung San Suu Kyi travelled to The Hague in December 2019, to personally defend her country at the ICJ against the allegations of widespread rape, arson and the .
This is the same Aung San Suu Kyi who three decades earlier won a Nobel Peace Prize, and was heralded as an “outstanding example of the power of the powerless.”
She told the ICJ the allegations were “incomplete and misleading” and Myanmar defence forces had been responding to “coordinated and targeted” from a Rohingya insurgent group.
The Myanmar government rejected the court's rulings. The ICJ's orders are binding but it has no power to enforce them.
What now for Aung San Suu Kyi?
More than 10,000 people have been arrested since the military coup in February. Hundreds have been killed in demonstrations.
Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to four years in prison for two charges. Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing later "pardoned" the sentences of both Aung San Suu Kyi and deposed Myanmar president Win Myint to "two years imprisonment", according to a statement read out on state television.
It is unclear where Aung is detained. According to state television, the sentences would be applied "at their current detention places", apparently meaning they would not be sent to prison.
The courts have been closed to media and spectators. Her lawyers, who have been at the proceedings, have been served with gag orders.
Aung San Suu Kyi is next due in court on 14 December, when she will face charges of possessing illegal walkie-talkies.
The charges have been accused of being a tool to prevent her from running the country again. Myanmar's constitution bars anyone sent to prison after being convicted of a crime from holding high office or becoming an MP.
