Yangon: After the court sentenced to another six years in prison Aung San Suu Kyi (77), who was dismissed by the military in Myanmar, Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Yangon expressed his concern about state repression.
Cardinal Bo warns that Myanmar’s military junta is cracking down and trying to intimidate nation's people.
During a visit to Australia, Myanmar’s Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Yangon told the Catholic Leader, “They [the military] are trying to intimidate the whole population.”
He warned that the military in the Southeast Asian country are determined to gain undisputed control by year end, and are thus cracking down.
“By the end of the year they presume everything will be quiet again, and they will not have any resistance anymore because of the atrocities and intimidation that the military is carrying out,” said the Archbishop of Yangon.
The junta has killed more than 2,100 people, including many children, and has detained some 15,000 others.
“The current situation is very complex and at the same time very confusing and very unpredictable,” Cardinal Bo said.
“Villages are being wiped out and burned,” he added.
“Fifty percent of our people are in poverty and at least 8 million of them are in dire need for food security and there are millions displaced," said the Cardinal.
Myanmar’s military junta sentenced Aung San Suu Kyi to another six years in prison on Monday. Suu Kyi was given the sentence after being convicted of corruption charges in a closed-door, military-controlled court.
She has already been sentenced to 11 years in a previous trial on multiple charges. The latest verdict in the series of secretive trials against the Nobel laureate takes her total jail term to 17 years and comes as the UN's Special Envoy on Myanmar traveled to the country on Monday to address the "deteriorating (rights) situation."
Suu Kyi, who turned 77 in June, was previously found guilty of multiple offenses ranging from graft to election violations.
Suu Kyi was sentenced for charges of misusing funds from a charity to build a house and leasing government-owned land.
Three other former government officials were also sentenced to three years in prison on similar charges, state media said.
Suu Kyi is being held in solitary confinement at a prison in the capital Naypyitaw and has denied all charges against her.
International rights groups and world leaders have expressed concern about the deteriorating state of human rights in Myanmar and dismissed ongoing trials against Suu Kyi, calling them "unfair and unjust."
Suu Kyi had led the democratically-elected government which was ousted when Myanmar’s military junta seized power in February of last year and imposed a state of emergency.
Since the coup, Aung San Suu Kyi has been held under house arrest and then prison.
As the situation deteriorates, a UN special envoy has been set to visit Myanmar. The International Community has denounced the brutality of Myanmar’s military coup.
Pope Francis visited Myanmar in November of 2017, and the Holy Father has made various appeals for the Southeast Asian nation.
-VN