Myanmar's military-backed government has reduced the prison sentence of deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi and fully pardoned former president Win Myint, as part of a sweeping amnesty covering more than 4,300 prisoners. The moves are among the first official acts of Min Aung Hlaing since he was sworn in as president earlier this month in the capital Naypyidaw — a role he assumed after being elected by a pro-military parliament in a vote widely criticised by international observers as neither free nor fair.

Suu Kyi, 80 and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, had been serving a 27-year sentence on charges ranging from corruption and incitement to election fraud and violating a state secrets law — charges her allies have consistently described as politically motivated. Her sentence has been cut by one-sixth, her lawyer told Reuters, though it remains unclear whether she will be permitted to serve the remainder under house arrest. Win Myint, who served as president before the February 2021 military coup that removed him from power, was granted a full pardon and reduction of his remaining sentences under specified conditions, according to a statement from the presidency.

The broader amnesty approved by Min Aung Hlaing covers 4,335 prisoners and includes the commutation of all death sentences to life imprisonment, the reduction of life sentences to 40 years, and a one-sixth reduction in term lengths for all other prisoners. Among those to be released are 179 foreign nationals, who will be deported. Amnesties of this kind are a recurring feature of Myanmar's official calendar, typically issued to mark Independence Day in January and the country's New Year in April.

Despite the scale of Friday's announcement, human rights groups urged caution. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners estimates that more than 30,000 people have been detained on political charges since the 2021 coup. Data from the Institute for Strategy and Policy Myanmar indicates that fewer than 14 percent of those freed in successive amnesties since the coup have been political prisoners — a pattern reflected in the anxious crowds gathered outside Yangon's Insein Prison, where families waited in the heat hoping for news of relatives.

Suu Kyi has not been seen in public since the conclusion of her trials, and her exact whereabouts remain unknown. Her son Kim Aris said last year that he had received only limited information about her condition and that her health was declining. While Friday's sentence reduction represents a notable development, rights organisations have called for her unconditional release, arguing that convictions rooted in politically motivated charges should be annulled entirely rather than merely shortened.