Myanmar's President Min Aung Hlaing has signed a decree reducing the sentences of all prisoners by one-sixth, a blanket measure that further reduces the prison term of deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi, according to a member of her legal team.
The measure, announced on Thursday, coincides with a public holiday, according to a statement from the presidential office. Amnesty decrees are typically issued on Independence Day in January and the New Year in April.
Min Aung Hlaing, a former military chief who assumed the civilian presidency after a tightly controlled 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 the 2021 military coup that ousted her democratically elected government. She is serving a 33-year sentence, later reduced to 27, on charges her allies describe as politically motivated.
A member of her legal team told Reuters on condition of anonymity that the 80-year-old will now have to serve about 18 years.
Aung San Suu Kyi remains highly popular in Myanmar but has been held in near-total isolation, with her family warning of her deteriorating health.
She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, which she did not accept in person for fear of being barred from returning to Myanmar, where she became 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.
More than four years after the military coup, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) declared an overwhelming majority in both legislative chambers.
Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy was dissolved along with dozens of other parties, and some parties declined to participate, drawing condemnation from critics who say the process was designed to legitimize military rule.
In his inauguration speech earlier this month, Min Aung Hlaing declared that "Myanmar has returned to the path of democracy and is heading towards a better future," while acknowledging the country still had many "challenges to overcome."
The United Nations human rights office said large segments of the population, including the ethnic Muslim Rohingya minority, were excluded from voting as they have been denied citizenship, and many have also been displaced outside the country.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a human rights group, has said more than 30,000 people have been imprisoned on political charges since the 2021 coup.
Source: www.aljazeera.com