UN rights chief urges immediate release of Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi

GENEVA (AFP): 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.

The military has ruled Myanmar by force for almost all of its post-independence history, before a decade-long democratic experiment gave civilian politicians tentative control.

The generals took back power in a 2021 coup deposing the government of Aung San Suu Kyi, now 80, detaining the democratic figurehead and plunging the country into civil war.

"All those detained unjustly since the coup -- including state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi -- need to be released immediately and unconditionally," he said on X.

"There must be an end to the unrelenting violence against all of Myanmar's people."

Aung San Suu Kyi had her sentence reduced on Friday as part of a mass amnesty, a source close to her legal case told AFP.

Myanmar's former president Win Myint, also detained since the coup, was also pardoned of his convictions during the post-putsch period of military rule, a statement said.