Myanmar has reduced the sentence of imprisoned ex-leader Aung San Suu Kyi, her lawyer told Reuters on Friday.
Suu Kyi, 80, was serving a 27-year sentence for a litany of offences 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.
Myanmar’s new President Min Aung Hlaing has approved an amnesty for 4,335 prisoners, state television reported on Friday, 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.
A spokesperson for the military-backed government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Min Aung Hlaing staged a military coup against a democratically elected government led by Suu Kyi in 2021, plunging the country into turmoil. He was elected president on April 3 in polls that were widely criticised by international observers as neither free nor fair.
The junta, according to a BBC report quoted by the Council on Foreign Relations in January, controlled only 21% of the country with rebel and ethnic groups holding 42%. While the latter continues to push forward, all signs suggest the civil war has reached a stalemate.
The military is losing cohesion and morale, the report warned, pointing to force levels dropping from 300,000 at the start of the civil war in 2021, to 130,000 now. The junta has conscripted an estimated 30,000 people to augment its forces, leading to a flight of young people from cities controlled by the army.
The junta has aircraft and drones which they have used with telling effect against rebel armies, but there are also reports of Ukrainian advisers with the rebels. It can therefore be expected that the rebels will soon be deploying drones.
