Myanmar’s decision to further reduce the prison sentence of Aung San Suu Kyi will not bring justice for the ousted civilian leader or her people, according to activists and her family.
On Thursday, the country’s newly elected president, Min Aung Hlaing, commuted Ms Suu Kyi’s sentence by an additional one-sixth as part of an amnesty deal to mark a Buddhist religious holiday, her legal team said.
It was the second such reduction in two weeks after her sentence was commuted by one-sixth on 17 April, when another 4,500 prisoners were granted full amnesties.
Yet the news was not welcomed by Ms Suu Kyi’s supporters, and still leaves her with a prison term of around 18 years to serve. Such a lengthy sentence means the octogenarian is still likely to spend the rest of her life in prison, particularly given that she is struggling with several health issues.
“This is not justice. It is not progress nor a human rights improvement,” her son Kim Aris told The Independent. “My mother remains unlawfully detained, with nearly two decades of imprisonment still hanging over her.”
Ms Suu Kyi, 80, has been held in jail since her government was overthrown in a 2021 military coup. She had originally been sentenced to 33 years on a raft of charges widely dismissed as politically motivated. The sentence was later commuted to 27 years.
Mr Aris, on Thursday, again demanded proof that his mother is still alive. She has not been seen since the closed-door trials that convicted her, her current whereabouts are unknown and the government has yet to grant her legal team or family face-to-face access.
“As her son, I have received no information from any authorised source. I do not know where she is. I do not know how she is,” he said. “I am deeply concerned about whether she is still alive. If she is alive, I ask for proof of life. As a son, my request is simple. I want to know my mother is alive. I want to be able to communicate with her. I want to see her free.”
The reduction of Ms Suu Kyi’s sentence was part of an amnesty granted to mark the Full Moon day of “Kason”, known as Buddha’s Birthday and Demise. Amnesties were granted to 1,519 prisoners, including 11 foreigners, and the sentences of all remaining convicted prisoners were cut by one-sixth to mark the day.
Mr Aris’s calls for proof that Ms Suu Kyi is still alive are part of a wider campaign by activists, who have ramped up pressure on President Hlaing to present evidence that the detained civilian leader is alive and in good health.
There were suggestions that Ms Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate, would be moved to house arrest after the mass amnesty granted earlier this month that saw her president and close aide Win Myint released, but that does not appear to have happened.
Mr Win was one of hundreds of members of Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party arrested at the time of the coup.
Mr Aris said the international community must not mistake the Myanmar government’s actions for meaningful reform. “What is needed is clear: respect for human rights, verified information, full transparency and the unconditional release of all political prisoners,” he said.
Benedict Rogers, senior director at the non-profit Fortify Rights, said the reduction of Ms Suu Kyi’s sentence in instalments showed the junta has no intention of releasing her, and only wants to give the false impression of positive change in the country.
“It appears to be part of an effort to create a new – and fictional – narrative about the regime relaxing, and to keep drip-feeding this false narrative, without actually taking any steps that would be meaningful, out of fear of encouraging the democracy movement,” he told The Independent. “This is a clear attempt by the regime to try to create a veneer of reform, with the purpose of gaining legitimacy, credibility and recognition from the international community.”
Min Aung Hlaing, the general who led the coup against Ms Suu Kyi, was recently chosen as president by a parliament entirely under his control, formalising his grip on power after an election criticised by the West as a sham in the absence of viable opposition. The coup ended a decade of tentative democracy and sparked chaos and civil war across the country.
As state counsellor, Ms Suu Kyi led Myanmar from 2016 to 2021, sparking brief hope for democratic reform in the country. She was among the first members of her government to be arrested by the military on 1 February 2021 and is now one of thousands of political prisoners in the country. Her journey is documented in a film released by The Independent entitled Cancelled: The Rise and Fall of Aung San Suu Kyi.
