Myanmar’s military junta announces partial pardon for former leader Aung San Suu Kyi

The military junta in Myanmar announced on Tuesday a partial pardon for former democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

She has been detained since the coup on February 1, 2021, and was facing sentences adding up to 33 years in prison.

The military regime announced that five of the 19 charges against Suu Kyi had been annulled.

This information reduces the likelihood of her full release.

The 78-year-old Nobel Peace laureate remains in prison, though speculation is rife that she may be moved to house arrest.

Junta spokesperson Zaw Min Tun confirmed that the total reduction in her sentence is six years.

Pardoned charges include violations of Covid-19 prevention rules during the election campaign and a corruption charge.

The partial pardon is part of an amnesty for 7,749 prisoners announced by the junta, which also includes a reduction of four years in the 12-year sentence for former president Win Myint.

This comes days after speculation increased regarding a possible move to house arrest for Suu Kyi, who has only been seen once in public since the coup.

The changes in Suu Kyi’s status occur a day after the junta announced a six-month extension of the state of emergency in the country, practically ruling out elections this year.

The coup two and a half years ago that overthrew Suu Kyi’s government and ended a decade of democratic transition has plunged Myanmar into deep political, social, and economic crises.

The military justified the coup on allegations of fraud during the November 2020 general elections.

These elections were dominated by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) with the approval of international observers. The military annulled these results.

According to the latest count by the Association for the Assistance of Political Prisoners (AAPP), a local NGO, 19,733 political prisoners remain detained and 3,857 individuals have died at the hands of the armed forces since the coup.

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