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Saturday 27 Apr 2024
LOCAL EDITION
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LOCAL EDITION
Myanmar’s military government has pardoned nearly 10,000 prisoners to mark the 76th anniversary of gaining independence from Britain, but it wasn’t immediately clear if any of those released included the thousands of political detainees jailed for opposing army rule. (Photo/AFP)
Myanmar’s military government has pardoned nearly 10,000 prisoners to mark the 76th anniversary of gaining independence from Britain, but it wasn’t immediately clear if any of those released included the thousands of political detainees jailed for opposing army rule.
The head of Myanmar’s military council, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, pardoned 9,652 prisoners to mark the holiday, state-run MRTV television reported on Thursday.
Min Aung Hlaing also granted amnesty to 114 jailed foreigners who will be deported, MRTV said in a separate report.
The prisoner releases were expected to begin Thursday and take several days to be completed. At Insein Prison in Yangon — notorious for decades for housing political detainees — relatives of prisoners gathered at the gates from early morning.
The identities of those granted pardons were not immediately available.
Mass prisoner releases are common on major holidays in the Southeast Asian nation.
25,730 arrested on political charges
There was no sign that among the prisoners being released would be Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been held virtually incommunicado by the military since it seized power from her elected government in February 2021.
The 78-year-old Suu Kyi is serving 27 years’ imprisonment after being convicted of a series of politically tinged prosecutions brought by the military. The charges on which she was convicted include illegally importing and possessing walkie-talkies, election fraud, corruption, violating coronavirus restrictions, breaching the official secrets act and sedition.
Her supporters and independent analysts say the cases against her are an attempt to discredit her and legitimise the military’s seizure of power while keeping her from taking part in the military’s promised election, for which no date has yet been set.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a rights monitoring organization, 25,730 people have been arrested on political charges since the army takeover.
Of those arrested, 19,930 people were still in detention as of Wednesday, AAPP reported. At least 4,277 civilians, including pro-democracy activists, have been killed by security forces in the same period, the group says.
Most of those detained are being held on incitement charges for allegedly causing fear, spreading false news or agitating against government employees.
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Source: TRT
