Myanmar’s blanket prison term reduction trims Aung San Suu Kyi’s sentence

The deposed democratically elected leader has been granted two amnesties this month, but her remaining sentence remains unclear.Myanmar President Min Aung Hlaing has cut all prisoners’ sentences by one-sixth, a blanket measure that grants deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s sentence a further ⁠reduction, according to a member of her legal team.Thursday’s measure comes to mark a public holiday, according to a statement published by the presidential office. Amnesties ⁠typically happen as Myanmar marks Independence Day in January and its New Year in April.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Russian weapons, tactics seen in Ukraine are shaping Myanmar’s civil warlist 2 of 3Who is fighting in Myanmar’s multi-front civil war?list 3 of 3Myanmar’s coup leader elected president by pro-military parliamentend of listMin Aung Hlaing, who was military chief before being sworn in as civilian president after a tightly restricted election, had already granted a similar sentence reduction ⁠in an amnesty for 4,335 prisoners ⁠earlier this month.Aung San Suu Kyi has been imprisoned since 2021, when a military coup toppled her democratically elected government. She is serving a 33-year sentence, later reduced to 27, on charges her allies describe as politically motivated.Her legal team member told the Reuters news agency on condition of anonymity that the 80-year-old will now have to serve about 18 years.Aung San Suu Kyi remains significantly popular in Myanmar but has been held almost completely incommunicado as her family warns of her deteriorating health.She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, which she did not accept in person for fear she would be blocked from returning to the country, where she had become a symbol of non-violent defiance.Myanmar’s main pro-military party claimed a sweeping victory in a three-phase general election in January, amid civil war and widespread repression.