According to two media sites, the military government of Myanmar may transfer ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi from prison to house arrest in the capital, Naypyitaw.
Since her arrest in early 2021, when the military ousted her elected government in a coup and launched a brutal crackdown on opponents that resulted in hundreds being imprisoned or killed, the 78-year-old Nobel laureate has been held without charge.
According to an unnamed security official quoted by the Associated Press, the action was taken as part of a religious ceremony scheduled for next week as a show of clemency for the convicts.
She may have already been relocated to a home typically used by government officials, according to a “source close to the prison” quoted by the BBC Burmese-language service.
The reports and Suu Kyi’s whereabouts were unable to be independently verified by Reuters.
The military-run government in Myanmar did not immediately have a spokesman available for comment. A representative for the opposition National Unity Government, which opposes military rule and Suu Kyi’s legal team, were unable to confirm the reports.
“News of improvements in conditions is welcome, but does not change her status as a prisoner of conscience,” said NUG spokesperson Kyaw Zaw.
Suu Kyi was found guilty of offenses ranging from inciting and election fraud to corruption, which she vigorously rejects, and now she is appealing sentences of 33 years in detention.
Many Western governments have demanded their release in response to the junta’s persecution of Suu Kyi and others.
The first foreign official to be given access to Suu Kyi since her detention more than two years ago, Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai claimed this month that he had recently met Suu Kyi.
The ASEAN regional bloc of Southeast Asia struggled to reach consensus on a strategy for resolving the issue in fellow member Myanmar at the time of the conference.
After massive demonstrations against decades of military dictatorship, the daughter of Myanmar’s independence hero was first placed under house arrest in 1989. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her work promoting democracy, but her house detention was finally lifted in 2010.
She won a 2015 election that was held as part of hesitant military reforms that were stopped by the coup in 2021.
