Myanmar's former leader Aung San Suu Kyi moved to house arrest

BANGKOK - Myanmar's former leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been moved from prison to house arrest, local media reported Thursday.

The announcement was broadcast on Myanmar's state media, according to the New Day Myanmar portal.

President Min Aung Hlaing commuted the remainder of Suu Kyi's prison sentence to house arrest, broadcaster Channel News Asia reported, citing a statement from the presidential office.

State broadcaster MRTV published a photo showing Suu Kyi sitting on a wooden bench opposite two uniformed men. It was the first image of her released in a long time, after years in which she had been largely cut off from the outside world.

Concern about Suu Kyi's condition had grown recently, with activists in Myanmar launching an international campaign calling on authorities to provide proof that she was alive.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed Thursday's decision, according to his spokesman.

"It is a meaningful step towards conditions conducive to (a) credible political process," spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said in New York.

Suu Kyi, 80, was detained following the February 2021 coup that brought the junta to power. She was subsequently sentenced to a lengthy prison term.

She previously spent 15 years under house arrest at her home in Yangon, becoming known worldwide for her non-violent opposition to the junta and earning the Nobel Prize in 1991.

Myanmar's military junta has repeatedly released thousands of prisoners to mark major holidays over the past few years.

On Thursday, the authorities granted a large-scale amnesty to mark a Buddhist holiday. Prisoners who were not pardoned had their sentences reduced by one-sixth.

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