Myanmar has reduced the sentence of imprisoned ex-leader Aung San Suu Kyi, her lawyer told Reuters yesterday, as part of an amnesty by a new president who ousted her government in a coup five years ago.
Suu Kyi, 80, was serving a 27-year sentence for a litany of charges her allies said were politically motivated to keep her at bay, ranging from incitement and corruption to election fraud and violating a state secrets law.
The sentence has been cut by one-sixth, but it remains unclear whether the Nobel Peace Prize winner will be allowed to serve the rest of her sentence under house arrest, the lawyer said.
Suu Kyi, who had dismissed the charges against her as ‘absurd’, has not been seen in public since the end of her marathon trials, and her whereabouts have been unknown. Earlier, state media reported that President Min Aung Hlaing approved an amnesty for 4,335 prisoners, the third such move in the past six months.
Amnesties typically take place in Myanmar each year to mark Independence Day in January and New Year in April.
Among the prisoners freed was Suu Kyi ally Win Myint, who served as president from 2018 until the 2021 military coup.
State broadcaster MRTV said he was ‘granted a pardon and the reduction of his remaining sentences under specified conditions’.
A spokesperson for the military-backed government did not respond to a request for comment.
The United States welcomed Win Myint’s release but called for the military government to free all those unjustly detained, including Suu Kyi.
“We urge Burma’s military and other armed groups to immediately cease violence harming civilians, ensure unhindered humanitarian access across the country, and engage in meaningful dialogue to end the crisis and achieve a sustainable peace,” a State Department spokesperson said.
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