Suu Kyi freed after sentence is cut
Yangon, MYANMAR—Myanmar’s former president Win Myint, detained since a 2021 military coup, was freed on Friday under a mass amnesty that also reduced the sentence of Aung San Suu Kyi, according to a source close to the prodemocracy leader.
Win Myint and Suu Kyi, the 80-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate, led Myanmar during a decadelong experiment with civilian rule that was abruptly halted by the coup.
The former president, who served from 2018, was pardoned of convictions handed down during the post-putsch period of military rule and released on Friday, a spokesperson for his party told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Suu Kyi meanwhile remains detained, serving a sentence rights groups decry as a politically motivated move to hobble her National League for Democracy (NLD) party.
A source close to her legal case, requesting anonymity for security reasons, told AFP that Suu Kyi’s 27-year sentence had been cut as part of the amnesty.
The order announced by coup leader Min Aung Hlaing to reduce the remaining terms of all sentences under 40 years by one-sixth also applies to Suu Kyi, the source said.
UN: Swift release
It is unclear how much of Suu Kyi’s term was considered served before the commutation order.
United Nations rights chief Volker Turk said that “all those detained unjustly since the coup—including state counselor Aung San Suu Kyi—need to be released immediately and unconditionally.”
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres also stressed the need for “meaningful efforts” to ensure the swift release of those arbitrarily detained, including Suu Kyi, his spokesperson said on Friday.
“A viable political solution must be founded on an immediate cessation of violence and a genuine commitment to inclusive dialogue,” spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
“This requires an environment that allows the people of Myanmar to freely and peacefully exercise their political rights.”
Rebranding of military rule
While Win Myint had occupied the presidency, it functioned as a ceremonial role following the lead of de facto government head Suu Kyi, who was barred from holding the top spot under a military-drafted constitution. An official statement from Min Aung Hlaing’s office said he had pardoned Win Myint—who like Suu Kyi was convicted of a host of crimes critics say were fabricated.
Myo Nyunt, spokesperson for the NLD which was dissolved after the coup, told AFP he had visited the ex-president at his daughter’s house in the capital Naypyidaw and he was “in good health.”
After five years ruling as armed forces chief, Min Aung Hlaing was installed last Friday as civilian leader in a transition that democracy watchdogs have described as a rebranding of military rule.
The shift has been accompanied by rollbacks of some of the junta’s postcoup crackdown measures—steps the leadership tout as reconciliation, but which critics describe as cosmetic measures to aid the rebranding effort.
Min Aung Hlaing on Friday also commuted all death sentences and ordered the release of more than 4,300 prisoners in an amnesty to mark Myanmar’s new year.
Win Myint’s pardon is perhaps the most significant climb-down so far.
Outside the barbed-wire boundary of Yangon’s Insein Prison, AFP journalists saw award winning filmmaker Shin Daewe released.
She was given a life sentence in 2024—later commuted to 15 years—for “complicity in terrorism,” according to Reporters Without Borders, which called her initial term the “harshest” postcoup sentencing of a journalist.
“Even though I was fortunate, my unlucky friends were left behind in tears. Even as I return to my family, I am returning with tears in my eyes,” said the documentarian.
