Myanmar has pardoned former leader Win Myint, while Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyer says her prison sentence has been reduced.
Published on 17 April 2026
Thousands of prisoners in Myanmar have been pardoned or have had their sentences reduced. The pardon order is one of Min Aung Hlaing’s first official acts since the coup leader became president this month.
The move comes after a lawyer for jailed former leader Aung San Suu Kyi told Reuters news agency that her sentence had been reduced. Former President Win Myint, detained since the 2021 coup, was also pardoned of his conviction, a statement from the presidential office said.
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Myanmar state television MRTV reported that Min Aung Hlaing approved amnesty for 4,335 prisoners.
“The sentences of those on death row will be commuted to life imprisonment,” a communiqué from Min Aung Hlaing said, without naming specific prisoners.
Another statement from Min Aung Hlaing’s office said, “The President has pardoned Win Myint.” Win Myint was “granted clemency under specified conditions and his remaining sentence was commuted”, MRTV said.
Suu Kyi, 80, is serving a 27-year prison sentence on charges that her allies say are politically motivated. His lawyer told Reuters that his sentence had been reduced by one-sixth, but it was unclear whether the Nobel Peace Prize winner would be allowed to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest. Min Aung Hlaing arrested Suu Kyi after the coup.
The amnesty typically occurs when Myanmar celebrates its Independence Day in January and its New Year in April.
Those released also include 179 foreign nationals, who will be deported. The amnesty also includes commutation of all death sentences to life imprisonment, reduction of life imprisonment to 40 years and reduction by one-sixth of the sentence of all other prisoners.
30,000 political prisoners
The latest apology comes just a week after Min Aung Hlaing was sworn in as president in the capital Naypyidaw.
In his inaugural speech, he declared that “Myanmar has returned to the path of democracy and is moving towards a better future”, while acknowledging that the country still has many “challenges to overcome”.
On Friday, families gathered outside Yangon’s Insein prison in hopes that their relatives would be among those released.
“My brother has been jailed in a political case,” Aung Htet Naing, 38, told AFP news agency. “I am hoping that he can be included in today’s release. We cannot expect much because he was not included in the previous amnesty.”
Their caution reflects a documented pattern: According to the Institute for Strategy and Policy Myanmar, less than 14 percent of those released in successive amnesties since the coup have been political prisoners.
Aid Association for Political PrisonersA human rights group has said more than 30,000 people have been detained on political charges since the 2021 coup.
Suu Kyi has not been seen in public since the end of the trial, and her whereabouts are unknown. His son Kim Aris told Reuters last year that he had received only limited information about his condition and that his health was declining.
While Friday’s sentence commutation marks a notable change, rights groups have long sought his unconditional release, arguing that any sentence rooted in politically motivated charges should be canceled entirely rather than commuted.
