Myanmar's junta chief-turned-president has ordered deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi to be moved to house arrest, five years after sweeping her into detention in a 2021 coup.

A statement from the office of Min Aung Hlaing on Thursday said he had "commuted the remaining sentence" of the 80-year-old Suu Kyi "to be served at the designated residence".

The office also shared a photograph seeming to show Suu Kyi sitting flanked by two men – one in a khaki shirt and another in a police uniform.

It was not immediately clear where she will be moved, but a senior source from her dissolved National League for Democracy party said she would likely be kept sequestered at an address in the capital Naypyidaw.

"We do not know where it is exactly," the source said.

A Naypyidaw police source said security forces had been ordered to "enforce restrictions" in areas of the capital on Thursday night.

The official statement also did not make clear how many years remain in Suu Kyi's sentence.

In New York, United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the move was "a meaningful step towards conditions conducive to a credible political process".

Suu Kyi's lawyers Francois Zimeray and Catalina de la Sota said they "welcome the evolution of her situation while stressing that she remains wrongly deprived of liberty".

In one of his first acts as civilian president, Min Aung Hlaing last month also pardoned Suu Kyi's top aide Win Myint, who served as her ceremonial president. (AFP)



Edited by Thomas McAlinden