MYANMAR: Former Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi will receive pardons for five of her 19 crimes, resulting in a six-year reduction in her 33-year prison sentence. The Nobel laureate, who was detained since the military coup in early 2021, was transferred from prison to house arrest in Naypyidaw. According to junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun, the pardons would result in a six-year prison sentence reduction for her.
Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar’s independence hero, was initially placed under house arrest in 1989 due to demonstrations against the military dictatorship. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her work promoting democracy. She was not entirely liberated from house imprisonment until 2010. Suu Kyi’s party won the subsequent election in November 2020, following a 2015 election with hesitant military reforms.
The military claimed electoral fraud after the 2020 election and urged early 2021 control. Suu Kyi’s party dismissed the allegations. The junta’s brutal assault on pro-democracy demonstrations has led to calls for the unconditional release of Suu Kyi and thousands of others, particularly in the West.
The National Defence and Security Council and Junta leader General Min Aung Hlaing agreed to extend the state of emergency for an additional six months. The military had promised to organise elections by August 2023, but the ballot was postponed due to unrest.
The junta has declared that security arrangements are necessary for a fair and free election in Myanmar, extending the state of emergency period. The country has been in upheaval since the coup, with a resistance movement fighting the military on multiple fronts. The fall of Suu Kyi’s administration halted a decade of reform, international engagement, and economic prosperity, leaving a path of upended lives.
The US State Department argued that extending the state of emergency would lead to more violence and instability in Myanmar. The junta’s declaration of postponement further exacerbated the crisis. The UN Secretary-General expressed a desire for a swift return to democratic rule in Myanmar.
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