Former Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi was detained after a military coup in 2021.
Ang Shine Oo/AP
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Ang Shine Oo/AP
Former Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi was detained after a military coup in 2021.
Ang Shine Oo/AP
BANGKOK — Myanmar’s military junta has moved ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi from prison to house arrest, state broadcaster MRTV announced Thursday — a move her son is calling a “calculated gesture” rather than a sign of real progress.
Suu Kyi, 80, has been detained since the military seized power in a coup in February 2021, ousting the democratically elected government led by her. He was sentenced to 27 years in prison on fabricated charges of corruption and electoral fraud, which was widely condemned.
The order to transfer them came from Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who led the coup and is scheduled to be sworn in as Myanmar’s civilian president this month after an election that excluded his disbanded party, the National League for Democracy. The election was widely dismissed as a sham.
A statement from his office said he had “commuted the remaining sentence” of Suu Kyi and “will have to serve the sentence at a designated residence.”
unknown location
The location of that residence has not been disclosed.
Latt, a spokesman for Myanmar’s parallel anti-junta administration, the Government of National Unity, told NPR by phone that she has not returned to her Naypyidaw home.
“Where is he?” He said. “This is not solid evidence that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is alive, nor is it an unconditional release of our leader.”
A separate pardon on 17 April had already reduced Suu Kyi’s sentence by one-sixth, bringing her remaining term to 18 years and nine months.
The secrecy surrounding her new location concerns her son, Kim Aris. The announcement was accompanied by a video of a smiling Suu Kyi sitting with two officials – an image Aris believes is from the testing process in 2022.
“Taking him from jail to a secret place does not mean freedom,” he said. “She remains a hostage, completely cut off from the world and under the complete control of those who unlawfully detain her.”
In a statement released Thursday evening and shared with NPR, Aris also suggested that the timing was not coincidental, saying it came shortly after public statements from the Chinese government about his mother’s condition.
He described these steps as “well-intentioned gestures designed to reduce international pressure and create the illusion of change, while the reality on the ground remains brutal and unchanged.”
Aris said he has yet to receive any confirmation about his mother’s well-being from any official source.
“I still don’t know where my mother is. I don’t know how she is. I’m extremely worried about whether she’s still alive,” he said. “If he is alive, I ask for proof of being alive.”
His appeal extends beyond his mother – to the thousands of political prisoners held across Myanmar.
Until now, rare glimpses of Suu Kyi’s detention have painted a disturbing picture. Footage published by the Guardian In June 2025 – followed by August and December 2022 – he was shown appearing in a makeshift courtroom with ousted President Win Myint during military-run corruption trials described by the United Nations, the United States and the European Union as politically motivated.
Leaked prison logs from January and February 2024 revealed a routine life inside a purpose-built detention facility in Naypyidaw, where he was held in solitary confinement, isolated from the outside world as civil war broke out in his country.
The records also raise concerns about his health, detailing the medications he received for a number of problems. Access to the outside world was strictly controlled, with visits taking place only under the supervision of his legal team.
