Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi Gets Surprise Partial Pardon

Myanmar’s former civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was ousted from power in a military coup in 2021 and convicted in a series of cases brought against her by the junta, was pardoned for some of those offenses, reducing her decadeslong sentence by six years. 

Suu Kyi, 78 years old, was detained in an early morning raid on Feb. 1, 2021, when the military overthrew her elected government and plunged the Southeast Asian nation into turmoil. She was subsequently convicted of 18 charges, including corruption and election fraud, and sentenced to a total of 33 years imprisonment.

In a statement disseminated on state-controlled media on Tuesday, the junta said Suu Kyi was granted a pardon for five of the offenses, including violating rules linked to the Covid-19 pandemic and illegally importing walkie talkies. Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told reporters the pardon would cut Suu Kyi’s sentence by six years. That would leave her to serve 27 years of incarceration, unless the junta makes further changes or decisions involving her. 

Her legal team hasn’t been able to meet with her since December 2022 or confirm reports that Suu Kyi was recently moved from a prison in the capital, Naypyitaw, to a house, said a person with knowledge of the matter.  

Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, swept historic elections in 2015, the country’s first freely contested vote in a quarter-century, and was re-elected in a landslide in 2020. The military staged a coup hours before parliament was scheduled to convene for its first session after the election, detaining Suu Kyi and other officials including former President Win Myint, who was also granted a partial pardon Tuesday.

The military claimed the vote was marred by fraud, which election observers refuted. 

Political analysts say the junta may be intending to appease foreign governments with Tuesday’s partial pardons, offering a small gesture as a sign that they are open to change. Western governments, however, aren’t likely to view the development as a real concession, the analysts said.   

“I think we need to resist the temptation to read too much into it. If you look at all these charges, it seemed pretty clear that they were locking her up and throwing away the key,” said David Mathieson, an independent analyst based in Thailand who is an expert on Myanmar. “Shaving off six years just reveals that these were political show trials to begin with and there is no rule of law.”

The coup abruptly ended Myanmar’s decadelong transition to democracy, returning the country to global pariah status and sending its economy into a tailspin as Western governments imposed sanctions and investors fled. Mass street protests, largely led by pro-democracy youths, were met with deadly force and soon gave way to armed rebellion.

Conflict between the junta and armed rebels has since spread throughout the country. The military has tried to eradicate opponents with escalating force, often using airstrikes to bomb villages suspected of harboring rebels. On Monday, the junta extended a state of emergency, effectively postponing promised elections until next year, claiming it was necessary for stability. 

More than 3,800 people have been killed since the coup and nearly 20,000 remain detained, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a nonprofit that monitors arrests and casualties. Politicians, artists, journalists and others are among those still behind bars.

Write to Feliz Solomon at [email protected]