NAYPYIDAW: Myanmar’s junta has sentenced an Australian economist to three years in prison, while also handing down another conviction to ousted leader Aung Saa Suu Kyi.
“Mr Sean Turnell, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and another three were sentenced to three years imprisonment each under the Official Secrets Act,” the source told AFP on Thursday, adding that Suu Kyi would appeal her verdict. Turnell’s sentence provoked a swift reaction from Canberra, with the foreign ministry rejecting his sentence and urging his “immediate release”.
Suu Kyi has already been convicted of corruption and a clutch of other charges by a closed court. Turnell is facing another case under the country’s immigration act, which, according to the source, is ongoing. Both have been detained since a coup in February last year, when the military ousted Suu Kyi’s government, for which Turnell was an adviser. A junta spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. The 76-year-old Turnell was in the middle of a phone interview with the BBC when he was detained after the 2021 coup. “I’ve just been detained at the moment, and perhaps charged with something, I don’t know what that would be, could be anything at all of course,” Turnell told the broadcaster at the time. –Agencies
