BANGKOK—Burma's (also known as Myanmar) military-led government has commuted the jail terms of deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a mercy related to a Buddhist-majority country's holy festival, state media said Tuesday.
Former President Win Myint's sentence was also lowered as part of the mercy awarded to over 7,000 convicts.
However, Ms. Suu Kyi, 78, must still spend a total of 27 years of the 33 years she was originally imprisoned for.
According to a report on state MRTV, the head of Burma's military council, Senior Gen. 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.
She was initially condemned for 19 charges, which her supporters and rights groups claim were intended to disgrace her and justify the army takeover in 2021 while barring her return to parliament.
According to a second announcement, former President Win Myint was also pardoned for two crimes he was convicted of: breaking coronavirus limits and sedition, which reduced his 12-year total prison sentence by four years. Mr. Win Myint was condemned for a total of eight charges at first.
The military's True News Information Team sent journalists video footage of the ruling military council's spokesperson, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, answering reporters' questions and saying he has not received any information about reports that Ms. Suu Kyi has already been transferred from prison to a residence in the capital, Naypyitaw.
“I haven’t heard anything about it,” Mr. Zaw Min Tun told journalists on Tuesday.
The clemency was announced a day after Burma's military prolonged the state of emergency that it established when it seized power from Ms. Suu Kyi's democratic administration two and a half years ago, forcing a further delay in the polls that it promised when it took over.
Several of Ms. Suu Kyi's cases are now on appeal.
To celebrate the day the Buddha gave his first speech, Min Aung Hlaing pardoned 7,749 convicts and remitted the death sentences of others, according to an MRTV broadcast.
According to the report, the army chief also extended amnesty to 125 foreign inmates and 22 members of ethnic armed organizations. According to the statement, he dismissed proceedings against 72 persons associated with ethnic armed organizations.
It was unclear whether any of the freed inmates were among the thousands of political detainees imprisoned for opposing military authority.
The shadow National Unity Government's judicial ministry, which sees itself as the country's legitimate administrative authority, has called on the country's military authorities to promptly free all jailed political prisoners, including Ms. Suu Kyi, claiming they were wrongfully arrested and condemned.
Since the army took power, 24,123 individuals have been arrested in Burma, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a rights monitoring organization. According to the organisation, security personnel murdered at least 3,857 people within the same time period.
Acting President Myint Swe was reported by MRTV as saying that it was "necessary" to extend the state of emergency for another six months because there is still a lot of work to be done to return the nation to "normalcy," and time is required to prepare for an election.
The United Nations called on Burma on Monday to return to democratic leadership.
The mercy came three weeks after Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai visited Ms. Suu Kyi in prison, becoming the first foreign visitor permitted access to her since her detention. Mr. Don informed media that she was in good condition and expressed her desire to join in discussions to end the crisis engulfing her strife-torn country.
Ms. Suu Kyi has been unable to provide an account of the July 9 meeting. The encounter was acknowledged by Burma's military, but no specifics were provided because it was one-on-one between the deposed leader and the Thai envoy.
Mr. Don reported his encounter with Ms. Suu Kyi during a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Jakarta, Indonesia.
ASEAN has been attempting to negotiate a resolution to Burma's brutal conflict, which some members think destabilizes the region.
