Aung San Suu Kyi, the detained former leader of Myanmar, has been given a further one-sixth reduction in her sentence as part of an amnesty, a member of her legal team said on Thursday, the second such commutation in two weeks.
The Nobel laureate, who has been held since being toppled by the military in a 2021 coup, now has just over 18 years left to serve, the legal team member said, declining to be identified by name.
After a marathon run of trials, Aung San Suu Kyi, 80, was sentenced to 33 years after convictions on charges ranging from corruption and inciting election fraud to violating state secrecy rules, which her allies maintain were politically motivated and aimed at sidelining her.
Her sentence was was later commuted to 27 years, and then by one-sixth in a Myanmar New Year amnesty on April 17 that freed her ally and co-defendant Win Myint, the former president.
The latest reduction comes after an announcement by state media on Thursday saying that all prisoners would have their sentences commuted.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s whereabouts are unknown and she has not been seen in public since the trials. Supporters and her son, Kim Aris, have expressed serious concern about her health.
Authorities continue to hold her at an undisclosed location, and the government has yet to grant her legal team or family face-to-face access.
A spokesperson for the military-backed government did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment.
Myanmar’s new President Min Aung Hlaing, who overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi in the coup, has faced persistent international pressure to release political detainees since a recent election, including from Asean, which he is seeking to reengage with after being barred from the summits of the regional bloc.
Visiting Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow raised the issue last week with Min Aung Hlaing, who said that Aung San Suu Kyi was being “well looked after” and that his government was considering unspecified “good things”, according to Mr Sihasak.
