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Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi has been moved from prison to house arrest due to a heat wave, as the military government freed over 3,000 prisoners under an amnesty for the traditional New Year holiday.
Quick Facts
- Myanmar’s former leader Aung San Suu Kyi moved to house arrest due to a heat wave.
- More than 3,000 prisoners, including political detainees, were released under an amnesty.
- The army has suffered major defeats at the hands of pro-democracy resistance fighters and ethnic minority guerrilla forces.
Myanmar’s jailed former leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been moved from prison to house arrest as a health measure due to a heat wave, the military government said as it freed more than 3,000 prisoners under an amnesty to mark this week’s traditional New Year holiday. Suu Kyi, 78, and Win Myint, the 72-year-old former president of her ousted government, were among the elderly and infirm prisoners moved to house arrest because of the severe heat, military spokesperson Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun told foreign media representatives late Tuesday.
Suu Kyi’s transfer comes as the army has suffered a string of major defeats at the hands of pro-democracy resistance fighters and their allies in ethnic minority guerrilla forces. The nationwide conflict began after the army ousted the elected government in February 2021, imprisoned Suu Kyi and began suppressing nonviolent protests that sought a return to democratic rule.
Suu Kyi has been serving a 27-year prison term on a variety of criminal convictions in a specially built annex of the main prison in the capital Naypyitaw, where Myanmar’s meteorological department said temperatures reached 39 degrees Celsius (102.2 degrees Fahrenheit) on Tuesday afternoon. Win Myint was serving an eight-year prison sentence in Taungoo in the Bago region.
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