Two and a half years have passed since the Burmese army carried out the coup that overthrew the government of de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and wiped out the failed experiment of democratic transition. In all this time, as denounced a few days ago by Thomas Andrews, the UN rapporteur for Burma, more than 3.500 civilians, politicians and dissidents have been murdered by regime forces, including 265 children; 1.3 million have had to leave their homes and more than 20,000 have become political prisoners.
Those are the numbers of a country that will continue under the yoke of terror for undefined time after Monday the military junta extended for the second time the same state of emergency that he already decreed after the coup in February 2021. A movement that perpetuates the generals who control the country in power and that sweeps away the hopes of celebrating some elections that restore at least institutional stability.
One day after that announcement, while rumors were growing that Suu Kyi (78), who was sentenced to prison terms totaling 33 years, had been transferred from prison to house arrest in the capital, Naypyitaw, the authorities announced that the deposed leader would be pardoned. Although clemency is partial.
are canceled five of the 19 convictions that weigh against it, subtracting a total of 12 years in prison. But Suu Kyi, who already spent 15 years under arrest during the previous military dictatorship (1962-2011), would have 21 years in jail to serve. Former President Win Myint, ousted along with Suu Kyi, who was really in charge, also received a reduced sentence.
These pardons are part of a amnesty granted to more than 7,000 prisoners on the occasion of Buddhist Lent, a common decision taken by the Board as holidays approach to try to show a kinder face in a country mired in a brutal civil war between civilian militia groups and the coup military, which is launching more and more bombardments against the areas controlled by the rebels, destroying entire villages, schools and hospitals.