Aung San Suu Kyi has been moved from a Myanmar prison to house arrest due to heat wave

BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s jailed former leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been moved from prison to house arrest as a health measure due to a heat wave, the military government said.

Suu Kyi, 78, and Win Myint, the 72-year-old former president of her ousted government, were among the elderly and infirm prisoners moved from out of prison because of the severe heat, the military’s spokesperson, Maj. Gen. General Zaw Min Tun, told foreign media representatives late Tuesday. The move has not yet been publicly announced in Myanmar.

Suu Kyi has been serving a 27-year prison term in the capital Naypyitaw on a variety of criminal convictions her supporters and rights groups say were fabricated for political reasons. Win Myint was serving an eight-year prison sentence in Taungoo in Myanmar’s Bago region.

A nationwide conflict in Myanmar began after the army in 2021 ousted the elected government, imprisoned Suu Kyi and began suppressing nonviolent protests that sought a return to democratic rule.