Myanmar junta pardons former president Win Myint of post-coup convictions
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Myanmar junta pardons former president Win Myint of post-coup convictions")
Former Myanmar president pardoned of post-coup convictions Photograph: (Credit: AFP)
Myanmar’s military junta has pardoned ousted former president Win Myint of several post-coup convictions. Learn more about the legal changes and political impact.
Former Myanmar President Win Myint has been pardoned on Friday (Apr 17) for his convictions during the post-putsch period of military rule. He has been detained since the 2021 coup. Myint assumed the presidency in 2018, overseeing Myanmar’s decade-long transition toward democracy until it was abruptly terminated by the military takeover. He held the top spot, which was a ceremonial role following the leadership of de facto government head Aung San Suu Kyi, who was restricted from holding the presidency under the military-drafted constitution.
Suu Kyi, the octogenarian Nobel Peace Prize laureate, remains detained, serving a 27-year sentence rights groups decry as politically motivated. "The President has pardoned Win Myint," said a statement from the office of President Min Aung Hlaing -- who ordered the coup detaining Win Myint, who was convicted of a host of crimes critics say were politically motivated. It was not immediately clear whether Win Myint would be released from custody.
After five years ruling as armed forces chief, Min Aung Hlaing was installed last Friday as civilian leader in a transition democracy watchdogs have described as a rebranding of military rule. The shift has been accompanied by rollbacks of some of the junta's post-coup crackdown measures -- steps the leadership tout as reconciliation, but which critics describe as cosmetic measures to aid the rebranding effort.
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Min Aung Hlaing on Friday also commuted all death sentences and ordered the release of more than 4,300 prisoners in an amnesty to mark Myanmar's new year -- one of many public holidays when mass pardons are commonly made.
But Win Myint's pardon is perhaps the most significant climb-down so far.
