The European Union has condemned Aung San Suu Kyi’s sentence of three years in prison with hard labour for electoral fraud. 

On Sunday 5 September, Josep Borrell, The High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the EU's highest ranking diplomat, tweeted: “EU condemns the unjustified sentence of Aung San Suu Kyi to an additional three years of detention, with hard labour. She now faces 20 years imprisonment on eleven counts with several charges remaining. EU calls on the regime in #Myanmar to release her and all political prisoners.”

The three-year sentence comes on top of previous sentences of just over 17 years that Suu Kyi has already received. Whether, at the age of 77 she will be forced to do hard labour is unknown.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been on trial for over a year on multiple charges and still faces more. All the trials have been held behind closed doors. During the trials Suu Kyi has been held incommunicado, her lawyers have been forbidden from speaking about the cases and the junta has only issued limited statements on proceedings.

After one one case in April 2022 when she was sentenced to five years imprisonment Phil Robertson, the deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch tweeted: “Myanmar’s junta and the country’s kangaroo courts are walking in lockstep to put Aung San Suu Kyi away for what could ultimately be the equivalent of a life sentence, given her advanced age. Destroying democracy in Myanmar also means getting rid of Aung San Suu Kyi, and the junta is leaving nothing to chance.”

Aung San Suu Kyi has been charged with at least 18 offenses that could see her sentenced to almost 190 years in prison.