Former Myanmar President Win Myint, who was detained after a 2021 coup, has been pardoned, AFP reports. He had been president since 2018, when Myanmar was at the peak of a decade-long experiment in civilian rule that ended abruptly with a military coup.
While he Myint held a leadership position, her role was largely ceremonial. The actual head of state was Aung San Suu Kyi, who was barred by the junta’s constitution from serving as president.
The office of Myanmar’s new president, Min Aung Hlaing, confirmed the pardon of Myint Win, but it was unclear whether the politician would be released from detention.
Min Aung Hlaing was sworn in as president after five years as head of the armed forces. Foreign observers note that so far there has been no democratic change in the country – only the title of the position held by the junta leader has changed. The current change was accompanied by the cancellation of certain repressive measures taken by the junta after the coup – steps that the leadership promotes as “reconciliation” but critics describe as cosmetic measures aimed at feigning reform.
Min Aung Hlaing also commuted all death sentences and ordered the release of more than 4,300 prisoners under an amnesty to mark Myanmar’s New Year, a bank holiday usually accompanied by mass pardons.
More than 30,000 people in Myanmar have been detained for political reasons since the coup, according to the Political Prisoners Aid Association. The junta has reinstated the death penalty for the opposition, a practice that had not existed in the country for decades.
According to the UN, more than 130 people have been sentenced to death. Now Min Aung Hlaing has commuted their sentences to life imprisonment.
Ousted former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, an 80-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner, remains in custody after serving a 27-year sentence that human rights groups say is politically motivated. Suu Kyi’s lawyer said her sentence had been reduced by one-sixth, but it was unclear whether the military junta had granted her lawyers’ request to transfer her from prison to house arrest.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s health and psychological condition also remain unknown-the politician is being held in isolation, with no contact with the outside world.