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Myanmar pardons former leader Win Myint, while lawyer for Aung San Suu Kyi says her jail sentence has been reduced.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Published On 17 Apr 2026<\/span>17 Apr 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Thousands of prisoners in Myanmar have been granted amnesty or had their sentences reduced. The pardon order by Min Aung Hlaing is one of his first official acts since the coup leader became president this month.<\/p>\n The move comes as the lawyer for jailed former leader Aung San Suu Kyi told the Reuters news agency that her sentence has been reduced. Former president Win Myint, detained since the 2021 coup, was also pardoned of his convictions, a statement from the presidency said.<\/p>\n list of 2 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n Min \u200cAung Hlaing approved an amnesty for 4,335 prisoners, Myanmar\u2019s state television MRTV reported.<\/p>\n A communique on behalf of Min Aung Hlaing said \u201cthose serving death sentences shall have their sentences commuted to life imprisonment\u201d, without naming specific prisoners.<\/p>\n \u201cThe President has pardoned Win Myint,\u201d said another statement from Min Aung Hlaing\u2019s office. Win Myint was \u201cgranted a pardon and the reduction of his remaining sentences under \u2060specified conditions\u201d, \u2060MRTV said.<\/p>\n Suu Kyi, 80, is serving a 27-year sentence on charges her allies describe as politically motivated. Her sentence was cut by one-sixth, her lawyer told Reuters, but \u200cit remains unclear whether the Nobel Peace Prize winner will be allowed to serve the rest of her sentence under house arrest. Min Aung Hlaing placed Suu Kyi under arrest after the coup.<\/p>\n Amnesties \u2060typically happen as Myanmar marks Independence Day in January and its New Year in April.<\/p>\n Among those to be released are 179 foreign nationals, who will be deported. The amnesty also includes the commutation of all death sentences to life imprisonment, life sentences reduced to 40 years, and a one-sixth reduction in term lengths for all other prisoners.<\/p>\n The latest amnesty comes just a week after Min Aung Hlaing was sworn in as president in the capital Naypyidaw.<\/p>\n In his inauguration address, he declared that \u201cMyanmar has returned to the path of democracy and is heading towards a better future\u201d, while acknowledging the country still had many \u201cchallenges to overcome.\u201d<\/p>\n Outside Yangon\u2019s Insein prison on Friday, families gathered in the heat, hoping their relatives would be among those freed.<\/p>\n \u201cMy brother has been imprisoned for a political case,\u201d 38-year-old Aung Htet Naing told the AFP news agency. \u201cI am hoping that he might be included in today\u2019s release. We cannot expect much because he wasn\u2019t included in previous pardons.\u201d<\/p>\n His caution reflects a documented pattern: according to the Institute for Strategy and Policy Myanmar, fewer than 14 percent of those released in successive amnesties since the coup have been political prisoners.<\/p>\nRecommended Stories <\/h2>\n
30,000 political prisoners<\/h2>\n