Why Myanmar’s token amnesties are ‘no cause for celebration’

Myanmar’s military-backed rulers have shaved time off Aung San Suu Kyi’s prison sentence and freed thousands of detainees, but analysts say the apparent goodwill gestures tell a story of a regime growing bolder, not more merciful.The government last week announced an amnesty for 4,335 prisoners, its third in six months, and reduced by a sixth the 27-year sentence of the 80-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi, who has not been seen in public since her criminal trials ended in December 2022.Among those freed was Win Myint, the former president arrested alongside Suu Kyi in the February 2021 Coup that brought Senior General Min Aung Hlaing to power.