YANGON: Myanmar’s president cut all prisoners’ sentences by one-sixth on Thursday, a blanket measure a source close to deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi said would further shorten her detention.

Suu Kyi has been sequestered since a 2021 military coup, but the senior member of her dissolved National League for Democracy (NLD) party said while her term had been reduced, her remaining sentence is still unclear.

“We also don’t know exactly how many years she has left,” the source told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

The military toppled Suu Kyi’s elected government five years ago, sweeping her into detention on a host of charges rights groups say were confected to sideline her and triggering civil war.

Since then Myanmar has been led by Min Aung Hlaing, first as military chief before he was this month sworn in as civilian president after a tightly restricted election excluding the NLD.

A statement from Min Aung Hlaing’s presidential office said to mark a public holiday on Thursday, prisoners will “have their remaining sentences cut by one-sixth”. It did not mention any prisoners by name, but the NLD source said 80-year-old Suu Kyi “will also get one-sixth reduction of her remaining sentences”.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2026