Yangon — A close ally of detained Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was granted amnesty by junta authorities as he battles cancer, a party source told AFP on Sunday.   

Zaw Myint Maung, 72, is a stalwart of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party that has been a thorn in the side of the military during its decades of rule.  

He was arrested following the military’s latest coup in 2021 and later jailed for corruption. 

“He was pardoned because of his health situation today,” a senior NLD source told AFP, requesting anonymity for security reasons.   

Zaw Myint Maung was in an intensive care unit in Mandalay, where he was battling cancer, the source said.  

“His condition is 50-50. We are trying to get more information,” they said. 

Zaw Myint Maung was a former chief minister of the Mandalay region and was detained shortly after the coup that upended a 10-year experiment with democracy in the Southeast Asian nation.  

The junta’s subsequent crackdown on dissent has decimated the senior ranks of the NLD. 

Months after the coup Nyan Win, a former NLD spokesperson and Suu Kyi confidante died of COVID-19 while being held in military custody for sedition.   

In 2022 another former lawmaker was executed by the junta in Myanmar’s first use of capital punishment in decades.  

In March last year the junta dissolved the NLD for failing to re-register under a tough new military-drafted electoral law, removing it from polls it has indicated it may hold in 2025. 

Suu Kyi, 79, is serving a 27-year prison sentence on charges ranging from corruption to not respecting COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. 

Rights groups say her closed-door trial was a sham designed to remove her from the political scene. 

Last month Italian media reported that Pope Francis has offered refuge on Vatican territory to Suu Kyi, who led the government ousted by the military in 2021.
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