Myanmar’s brutal military junta is being hit by serious criticism after it announced today it was cutting six years off Aung San Suu Kyi’s 33-year jail sentence, a paltry partial pardon leaving the democracy icon saddled with what amounts to a “life sentence”.
Critics have responded to the announcement made midday on 1 August that the prisoner amnesty, in which over 7,000 prisoners were released, was just a smokescreen for continued military rule, after it announced a six-month extension of the state of emergency.
There have been concerns for the 78-year-old Nobel laureate's health and the junta moved her from prison to a government building last week.
"Six years imprisonment will be reduced," junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told reporters after it was announced she had been pardoned in five cases.
Suu Kyi still faces 14 cases despite the pardon. Rights groups have condemned the legal battle against her as a sham designed to remove a popular democratic leader from the public eye.
Aung San Suu Kyi and former president Win Myint were the most high-profile recipients of the “pardon”. Aung San Suu Kyi had five cases removed, whereas Win Myint had two.
David Mathieson, an independent analyst on Myanmar, told AFP that the partial pardon was a "cynical ploy to tell the world that there might be some kind of political resolution coming. When we know that there is not".
"I think they are just playing cruel games with a political prisoner," Mathieson said. "All the charges against her are absurd and shaving six years off 33 isn't mercy."
Human Rights Watch's Asia division deputy director Phil Robertson said the junta aimed "to create the impression of moderation and dialogue when in fact there really is none on offer".
Joe Freeman, a spokesman on Myanmar for Amnesty International, said the reductions showed the arbitrary nature of the junta's military courts.
"Those swept up in its clutches never know what may happen to them," he told AFP.
Democracy activist Igor Blazevic claimed Aung San Suu Kyi total sentence was “still a life sentence in disguise” and that the actions of the junta amounted to “hostage diplomacy”.
Mizzima and AFP
