Myanmar ex-president freed from detention, Suu Kyi's sentence cut

YANGON, Apr 17: Myanmar's former president Win Myint, detained since a 2021 military coup, was freed on Friday under a mass amnesty which, according to a source close to pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, also reduced her sentence.

The former president, who served from 2018, was pardoned of convictions handed down during the post-putsch period of military rule and released on Friday, a spokesman for his party told AFP.

Suu Kyi meanwhile remains detained, serving a sentence rights groups decry as a politically motivated move to hobble her National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

The order announced by Min Aung Hlaing -- the coup leader who ousted Suu Kyi's government and was sworn in last week as civilian president -- to reduce the remaining terms of all sentences under 40 years by one-sixth "also applies to her", the source said.

It is unclear how much of her term was considered served before the commutation order.

Meanwhile, UN rights chief Volker Turk called for the immediate and unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi after the jailed Myanmar democracy icon had her sentence reduced on Friday.

UN rights chief Volker Turk said that "all those detained unjustly since the coup -- including state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi -- need to be released immediately and unconditionally".    �"AFP