A Burmese (also known as Myanmar) court has handed three-year jail terms to former leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Australian economist Sean Turnell for violating Burma’s official secrets act, a legal official says.
The pair were tried and convicted under the secrets law, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to release information about the case.
Three members of Suu Kyi’s former Cabinet were also found guilty, each also receiving sentences of three years.
Turnell, an associate professor in economics at Sydney’s Macquarie University, had served as an adviser to Suu Kyi, who was detained when her elected government was ousted by the army on February 1, 2021.
He has been in detention for almost 20 months. He was arrested five days after the military takeover by security forces at a hotel in Yangon, the country’s biggest city while waiting for a car to take him to the international airport.
He had arrived in Burma from Australia to take up a new position as a special consultant to Suu Kyi less than a month before he was detained. As director of the Myanmar Development Institute, he had already lived in Naypyitaw for several years.
The day after the military’s takeover, he posted a message on Twitter that he was: “Safe for now but heartbroken for what all this means for the people of Myanmar. The bravest, kindest people I know. They deserve so much better.”
He was charged along with Suu Kyi and the three former Cabinet ministers on the basis of documents seized from him. The exact details of their offence have not been made public, though state television said Turnell had access to “secret state financial information” and had tried to flee the country.
Turnell and Suu Kyi denied the allegations when they testified in their defence at the trial in August.
Turnell was also charged with violating immigration law.
Burma’s colonial-era official secrets act criminalises the possession, collection, recording, publishing, or sharing of state information that is “directly or indirectly useful to an enemy.” The charge carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.
All sessions of the trial, held in a purpose-built courtroom in Naypyitaw’s main prison, were closed to the media and the public. The defence lawyers were barred by a gag order from revealing details of the proceedings.
Suu Kyi had already been sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment after being convicted of illegally importing and possessing walkie-talkies, violating coronavirus restrictions, sedition, election fraud and five corruption charges. The cases are widely seen as being concocted to keep the 77-year-old Suu Kyi from returning to active politics.
Suu Kyi is still being tried on seven counts under the country’s anti-corruption law, with each count punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Defence lawyers are expected to file appeals in the secrets cases in the coming days for Turnell, Suu Kyi and three former ministers.
About half-a-dozen foreigners are known to have been arrested on political charges since the army takeover, and they generally have been deported after their convictions.
Australia has repeatedly demanded Turnell’s release. Last year Canberra suspended its defence cooperation with Burma and began redirecting humanitarian aid because of the military takeover and Turnell’s ongoing detention.
Tim Harcourt, a longtime friend of Turnell, said he still holds out hope that his fellow economist will soon be released.
“He’s a great economist, nice bloke and a great human being. His main cause in life is to reduce poverty around the world, and he'd developed particular expertise in Myanmar,” Harcourt, a Sydney academic, told AP.
It was not clear if Turnell’s 20 months already spent in detention would be deducted from his sentence.
The UN Special Envoy on Myanmar Noeleen Heyzer said she conveyed a specific request from Australia for Turnell’s release when she met with Senior General Min Aung Hlaing in August.
Burma’s government said the general replied that, should the Australian government take positive steps, “we will not need to take stern actions.”
