Myanmar’s Supreme Court agrees to hear appeal of Suu Kyi’s bribery conviction

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.

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.

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 $600,000 and seven gold bars in 2017-18 from Phyo Min Thein, the former chief minister of Yangon, the country’s biggest city.

The legal officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it has not yet scheduled a date for the appeal hearing. Her lawyers’ initial appeal of the conviction to the Supreme Court was rejected last November.

In April, the Supreme Court agreed to hear appeals of Suu Kyi’s convictions in five other corruption cases, and requests for reduced sentences in cases in which she was accused of breaching the official secrets act and election fraud. The dates for the hearings for those appeals have also not been set.