12/07/2021 Myanmar (International Christian Concern) – After ten months of waiting, a Myanmar court has found the deposed state counsellor and pro-democracy icon, Aung San Suu Kyi, guilty on two charges – inciting dissent and violating COVID rules. These are the first verdicts of the many charges that have been leveled against Ms. Suu Kyi by Myanmar’s military junta. The initial sentence assigned by the court was for four years jail time; however, the court has reduced the penalty to two years.
The verdict in this case comes after the decision over Ms. Suu Kyi’s fate was delayed last week, leaving many observers anxiously awaiting an outcome. In an attempt of goodwill, the junta offered a partial pardon to reduce Ms. Suu Kyi’s sentence. However, this attempt at charity is unraveled by another weekend of continued attacks throughout Myanmar’s predominantly Christian Chin state, highlighting the Junta’s continued brutality toward the country’s Christian and ethnic minorities.
Ms. Suu Kyi’s verdict has been met with admonishment from human rights observers and western governments, who claim that the charges are ‘absurd.’ The Myanmar Junta continues to face international criticism from the western countries as their coup d’état has resulted a brutal conflict across Myanmar’s ethnically and religiously diverse regions. As a result, the junta has already lost their initial bid to secure representation at the United Nations General Assembly and was denied for participation in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in October by the current ASEAN chair, Brunei.
As the Burmese military continues its assault against its religious and ethnic minorities, it will continue to alienate itself from the international community, making the situation facing Myanmar’s Christians even more dire until democracy and order can be restored.
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