Myanmar lowered former civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s 33-year prison sentence by six years on Tuesday in a partial pardon, as the junta attempts to quash brutal opposition to its rule.
In the two years since Suu Kyi was removed in a coup, the country has been plagued by turmoil and slapped with 19 criminal charges ranging from corruption to violations of Covid-19 norms.
Concerns have been raised about the health of the 78-year-old Nobel laureate, and the junta relocated her from prison to a government building last week.
“Six years imprisonment will be reduced,” junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told reporters after it was announced she had been pardoned in five cases.
Despite the pardon, Suu Kyi is still facing 14 charges. Rights groups have slammed the court struggle against her as a charade intended to keep a popular democratic leader out of the spotlight.
Former Myanmar president Win Myint, who was also deposed in the 2021 coup, was granted a four-year suspension in two cases, according to a junta official.
