Former Myanmar PM gets 44-year suspended jail

22 July 2005, 18:00 PM

AFP, Yangon

Former Myanmar prime minister Khin Nyunt received a 44-year suspended sentence after being convicted yesterday on eight charges including bribery and corruption, legal sources said.

A secret tribunal also handed down considerably stiffer jail terms to two of Khin Nyunt's sons, just days before Southeast Asian ministers meet in Laos to discuss whether Myanmar takes over the helm of Asean next year.

"Former prime minister Khin Nyunt was sentenced today," a source closely following the trial in Yangon's notorious Insein prison told AFP. "The total punishment was 44 years on eight charges."