Aung San Suu Kyi receives partial pardon from Myanmar’s military junta but to stay under house arrest
Myanmar’s junta says it has pardoned ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi for some of the offences she denies – more than two years after she was detained as part of a military coup.
Sky News understands the clemency will not fully pardon her and that five charges have been dropped, while 14 remain.
The Nobel laureate, who last week moved from prison to house arrest in the capital, Naypyitaw, has been in detention since the military seized power in a coup in early 2021.
According to local media, Ms Suu Kyi was taken to a government building last Monday. She had spent a year in solitary confinement.
However, speaking on Tuesday morning, her youngest son Kim Aris told Sky News: “It’s important to take any news with a healthy level of scepticism.
“Few days ago it was rumoured she was moved to home arrest. Sources suggest to me that she’s still in prison.”
He added: “Also, given that all the charges against my mother are without any substance, any reduction in her sentence is completely meaningless.
“Until she is released, words cannot convince me otherwise.”
Ms Suu Kyi is appealing against the convictions for various offences ranging from incitement and election fraud to corruption.
The 78-year-old denies all of the charges.
Myanmar Radio and Television reported the pardons on Tuesday but an informed source said she would remain in detention.
“She won’t be free from house arrest,” said the source, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue, according to Reuters news agency.
Former President Win Myint also had his sentence reduced as part of the clemency granted to more than 7,000 prisoners, which reportedly saw prison terms reduced in a religious ceremony.
The head of Myanmar’s military council, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, granted the clemency order to reduce the sentences in five cases against Ms Suu Kyi in which she was convicted for violating coronavirus restrictions, illegally importing and possessing walkie-talkies and sedition, according to a report on state MRTV.
The clemency was announced a day after Myanmar’s military extended the state of emergency it imposed when it seized power from Ms Suu Kyi’s elected government, forcing a further delay in elections it promised when it took over.
Ms Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar’s independence hero, was first put under house arrest in 1989 after huge protests against decades of military rule.
In 1991, she won the Nobel Peace Prize for campaigning for democracy but was only fully released from house arrest in 2010.
She won the 2015 election, held as part of tentative military reforms that were brought to a halt by the 2021 coup.