Myanmar’s military junta — which regularly marks holidays with prisoner amnesties — will release 3,113 prisoners, including 98 foreigners, on New Year’s day. Representational Image/AFP.
Naypyidaw: The Myanmar military will release 3,113 prisoners, including 98 foreigners, to mark the country’s traditional New Year. Thingyan or the traditional Myanmar New Year festival is celebrated in the middle of April for a period of four to five days.
The statement by Myanmar Junta, released on Monday, however, did not specify whether those imprisoned for opposing its power grab in February 2021 would be freed.
For the unversed, Myanmar’s coup leader Min Aung Hlaing has imprisoned thousands of opponents and pro-democracy activists since it came to power.
According to a report by Al Jazeera, Lieutenant General Aung Lin Dwe, a spokesman for the military, said that the amnesty is a “celebration of Myanmar’s New Year to bring joy for the people and address humanitarian concerns.”
However, he added that those who reoffend would have to serve the remainder of their sentences with additional penalty.
The report added that the activist group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners have claimed that at least 17,460 people who opposed the coup are still in detention.
This includes Nobel laureate and military rule opposition figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi, who is serving 33 years in prison after trials that the international community decreed as being shams.
Myanmar’s military has been in the past accused of indiscriminately killing civilians in its attempts at suppressing armed resistance opposed to its takeover of the government two years ago.
On February 1, 2021, the military toppled the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, prompting peaceful protests that security forces suppressed with bloody violence.
In Myanmar, the military periodically grants amnesty to prisoners. However, compared to 2021’s 23,000 prisoners pardoned, the present numbers are a mere shadow, amid growing dissent in the country.
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