In an amnesty for the Buddhist New Year, the Myanmar junta will release 3,000 detainees.
Myanmar’s military government
To celebrate the traditional Lunar New Year holiday, Myanmar’s military administration on Monday extended amnesty to more than 3,000 prisoners. It wasn’t immediately apparent, however, if those released included the thousands of political detainees imprisoned for opposing army rule.
AFP YANGON
To celebrate the Buddhist New Year, Myanmar’s junta started freeing more than 3,000 detainees on Monday without saying whether or not those imprisoned during its brutal crackdown on dissent will also be let free.
Since its coup more than two years ago, which rocked the nation and triggered numerous skirmishes with anti-coup militants, the military has detained hundreds of people.
According to a statement from the junta’s information team, Min Aung Hlaing, the group leader, “pardoned 3,015 prisoners to mark Myanmar New Year, for the peaceful mind of the people, and on humanitarian grounds.”
The announcement stated that those who re-offend must spend the balance of their sentence with an added penalty.
Prisoners released from Insein Prison are welcomed by their colleagues and family members in Yangon.(AP)
It was not specified if journalists imprisoned for covering the coup and its aftermath or anti-junta protestors would be among those set free.
Junta statement
According to a different junta statement that included no additional information, 98 additional foreigners serving prison sentences in Myanmar will also be pardoned and released.
Following the announcement, some 100 people gathered in front of the Insein prison in the bustling city of Yangon, hoping their friends and loved ones would be released.
Win Win Htay reported that her younger brother had served four months in prison after being stopped by authorities at a checkpoint and having a tiny knife discovered on his keychain.
While waiting outside the jail, she told AFP, “I hope he will be released today.”
Later, as two yellow buses left the jail compound, some of the onlookers waved and called to those inside.
The military junta released over 23,000 inmates soon after its coup, prompting concerns from certain rights organizations that the move would give room to military opponents and wreak havoc on local populations.
State-run The State Administration Council, the administrative body established by the military when it seized power in 2021, is said to have pardoned 3,113 convicts, including 98 foreigners who will be deported, according to MRTV television. Major holidays frequently see large-scale prisoner releases.
Buddhist New Year holiday
To celebrate its annual Buddhist New Year holiday, which in earlier years was a joyous occasion, the nation regularly offers amnesty to thousands of prisoners.
However, after a military air strike on a town in a center for resistance that the media and locals claimed killed more than 170 people, streets in many large cities remained silent in protest this year.
According to a local monitoring organization, more than 21,000 individuals have been detained since the military overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s government in February 2021. State-run The State Administration Council, the administrative body established by the military when it seized power in 2021, is said to have pardoned 3,113 convicts, including 98 foreigners who will be deported, according to MRTV television. Major holidays frequently see large-scale prisoner releases.
Suu Kyi has been imprisoned since the coup’s first hours.
The 77-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner was sentenced to 33 years in prison by the junta in December after concluding a string of secret hearings that rights organizations have denounced as fraud.
Since the coup, at least 170 journalists have been detained, according to the United Nations.
Annual Buddhist New Year holiday
Annual Buddhist New Year holiday, which in earlier years was a joyous occasion, the nation regularly offers amnesty to thousands of prisoners.
However, after a military air strike on a town in a center for resistance that the media and locals claimed killed more than 170 people, streets in many large cities remained silent in protest this year.
According to a local monitoring organization, more than 21,000 individuals have been detained since the military overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s government in February 2021. Suu Kyi has been held since early this morning.
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