Myanmar junta pardons former leader Suu Kyi for five offences

CNN
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Myanmar’s ruling military junta has pardoned Aung San Suu Kyi on five charges for which she was previously convicted, reducing the lengthy sentence of the deposed, democratically elected leader by 12 years.

The pardon was announced by Aung Lin Dwe, the secretary of the regime’s governing body, and further details were confirmed by a source with direct knowledge of the case.

The five charges pardoned include offenses against defamation, natural disaster laws, export and import law and telecommunication law, the source told CNN.

The 78-year-old previously faced a total of 33 years in jail, including three years of hard labor, for multiple convictions including electoral fraud and receiving bribes.

Suu Kyi’s sentence is now reduced to 21 years after the pardon.

Army general Min Aung Hlaing seized power in February 2021, ending Myanmar’s brief experiment with democracy, jailing multiple opposition figurs like Suu Kyi and plunging the impoverished Southeast Asian nation into a raging civil conflict that continues to this day.

Battles between the military and resistance groups unfold daily across the country. Airstrikes and ground attacks on what the military calls “terrorist” targets occur regularly and have killed thousands of civilians, often including children, according to monitoring groups.

Whole villages have been burned down by junta soldiers and schools, clinics and hospitals destroyed as a result of the attacks, according to local monitoring groups.

Suu Kyi, who spent decades under house arrest during a previous military junta, has denied all of the charges levied against her – and rights groups and international observers say her convictions are politically motivated.

As of Tuesday, Suu Kyi still faces sentences for 14 other offenses of which she was convicted, the source said.

The announcement comes as Myanmar’s Supreme Court is set to hear appeals by Suu Kyi against multiple convictions over the next two weeks. The source told CNN those appeals will still go ahead.

The United Nations Security Council last year called on the junta to release all political prisoners, including Suu Kyi and former President Win Myint.

Suu Kyi, a democratically elected leader and symbol of opposition to decades of military rule, led Myanmar for five years before being forced from power in the 2021 coup.

The military intervened to prevent Suu Kyi forming a new government, three months after her party was re-elected in a landslide election against military-backed opposition.