Yangon: As the junta battles to quell bloody resistance to its rule, Myanmar on Tuesday commuted six years of the 33-year prison term of ousted civil leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
In the two years since Suu Kyi was overthrown in a coup, the nation has experienced unrelenting violence and been the target of 19 criminal prosecutions ranging from corruption to violating COVID-19 regulations.
The junta transferred the 78-year-old Nobel laureate from prison to a government building last week due to health concerns.
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After it was revealed that she had been pardoned in five cases, junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told reporters that her six-year sentence would be reduced.
Despite the pardon, Suu Kyi still has 14 cases against her. Rights organisations have denounced the legal conflict against her as a sham intended to obscure a well-liked democratic leader.
According to the junta spokesman, former Myanmar president Win Myint, who was also overthrown in a coup in 2021, received a four-year reduction in jail time for two cases.
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The announcement made on Tuesday was a part of an amnesty for more than 7,000 prisoners—125 of whom will be released and pardoned—to mark Buddhist Lent.
The announcement stated that a specific number of prisoners facing the death penalty also had their sentences commuted to life in prison. The partial pardon, according to independent Myanmar analyst David Mathieson, was a "cynical ploy to tell the world that there might be some kind of political resolution coming. once we are aware that there isn't.
According to Mathieson, they are simply playing cruel games with a political prisoner.
"Shaving six years off of 33 isn't mercy," the prosecutor said of the charges against her.
Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia division, claimed that the junta sought to "create the appearance of moderation and dialogue when in reality there is none on offer."
The reductions, according to Amnesty International's Joe Freeman, demonstrate the arbitrary nature of the junta's military courts.
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He told AFP, "Those caught in its grasp never know what may happen to them.
Suu Kyi was imprisoned the night of the coup in February 2021 and has only been photographed by the state media once since then, in a sparse courtroom in Naypyidaw, the military-built capital.