Myanmar's newly elected president has commuted former leader Aung San Suu Kyi's sentence by an additional one-sixth as part of an amnesty deal, her legal team confirmed on Thursday. This marks the second such reduction in two weeks, following a state media announcement that all prisoners would have their sentences commuted.
Suu Kyi Still Faces 18 Years in Prison
A member of her legal team stated that Suu Kyi still faces 18 years in prison—a lengthy jail term for the 80-year-old Nobel laureate, who suffers from a number of health issues. Suu Kyi has been held in jail since her government was overthrown in a 2021 military coup. She was originally sentenced to 27 years on a series of charges widely dismissed as politically motivated. Earlier, her sentence had been reduced by four and a half years.
Uncertain Future for the Former Leader
The future of the Nobel Peace Prize winner remains uncertain. It was anticipated that she would be moved to house arrest after a mass amnesty was granted to thousands of prisoners on New Year's Day. Ousted president Win Myint was released as part of that amnesty. Win, a member of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party, was arrested at the time of the coup.
At that time, Suu Kyi's 27-year sentence was commuted by a sixth as part of a traditional New Year's amnesty. Her whereabouts are unknown, and she has not been seen in public since the marathon trials. Authorities continue to hold her at an undisclosed location, and the government has yet to grant her legal team or family face-to-face access.
Political Context
The decision comes as coup leader Min Aung Hlaing was recently chosen as president by parliament, formalising his grip on power after an election criticised by the West as a sham because it was dominated by an army-backed party in the absence of viable opposition. The coup by former military chief Hlaing ended a decade of tentative democracy and sparked chaos and a civil war in the country.
As state counsellor, Suu Kyi led Myanmar from 2016 to 2021, sparking brief hope for democratic reform. She was among the first members of her government to be arrested by the military on 1 February 2021 and is now one of thousands of political prisoners in the country. Her journey is documented in a film released by The Independent entitled Cancelled: The rise and fall of Aung San Suu Kyi.
