Global Courant 2023-04-17 09:08:34
YANGON — Myanmar’s junta released 3,113 prisoners, including 98 foreigners, on Monday to celebrate the country’s traditional new year, according to a statement from the military government published on pro-military Telegram channels.
Since taking power in 2021, the army-led government has jailed thousands of opponents and pro-democracy activists and brutally cracked down on protests, sparking worldwide condemnation.
Lieutenant General Aung Lin Dwe, secretary of state of the junta, said in a statement that the amnesty is to “celebrate Myanmar’s new year, bring joy to the people and address humanitarian concerns”.
A junta spokesman did not return a call asking for comment, and it was unclear who was covered by Monday’s amnesty.
Deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate and figurehead of the opposition to military rule, is serving 33 years in prison after a marathon of trials internationally condemned as sham.
The junta has also detained other senior members of its civilian government, whom the military overthrew in the 2021 coup.
At least 17,460 people are still detained and 3,240 have been killed by the junta, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an activist group.
The junta periodically grants amnesty to prisoners, but the numbers in 2023 and in the previous year were a fraction of the 23,000 released during the same Buddhist holiday in 2021.
Human rights organizations and many world leaders have repeatedly called on the junta to release all political prisoners. REUTERS
