Myanmar cuts ex-leader Aung San Suu Kyi's sentence, frees former president

Myanmar has reduced the sentence of imprisoned ex-leader Aung San Suu Kyi, her lawyer told Reuters on Friday, 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 immediately respond to a request for comment.

The United Nations said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "takes note" of the moves, while underscoring "the need for meaningful efforts to ensure the swift release of all those arbitrarily detained, including State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and to create conditions conducive to a credible political process."

"A viable political solution must be founded on an immediate cessation of violence and a genuine commitment to inclusive dialogue. This requires an environment that allows the people of Myanmar to freely and peacefully exercise their political rights," Guterres' spokesperson said in response to media queries.

The 2021 coup against Win Myint and Suu Kyi's democratically elected government was led by Min Aung Hlaing. It plunged the Southeast Asian country into a nationwide civil war that continues to rage.

Min Aung Hlaing was elected president on April 3 following polls in December and January during which the opposition was stifled and largely absent. Critics and Western governments dismissed the vote as a sham designed to entrench military rule behind a democratic facade. — Reuters