Home » Burma, military junta releases 23,000 prisoners

Burma, military junta releases 23,000 prisoners

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BURMA. The military junta, in power in Burma after the February 1 coup, announced that it had pardoned and released more than 23,000 detainees on the occasion of Thingyan’s New Year holidays. However, it is not clear whether among them there are also pro-democracy activists and demonstrators, arrested following the coup. The mass release was announced by the state broadcaster Mrtv, which reported that General Min Aung Hlaing pardoned the 23,047 prisoners, including 137 foreigners who will be expelled from the country, as well as having reduced the sentences for other detainees. The early release of prisoners is customary during major holidays. This is the second time the junta has done so since overthrowing the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking daily protests, arrests and killings by the security forces. According to the Association of Assistance for Political Prisoners, which monitors the victims and arrests, government forces have killed at least 728 protesters since the takeover. The group reports that 3,141 people, including Suu Kyi, are in detention.

Unofficial but reliable accounts, with photos posted on social media, reported that three people were killed Saturday by security forces in a violent crackdown in the central city of Mogok, in the gem-mining region. Inmates released Saturday from Yangon’s Insein prison included at least three political prisoners who were jailed in 2019, according to witnesses and local press reports. The three are members of the Peacock Generation show company and were arrested during the 2019 New Year celebrations for skits mocking military representatives in Parliament and military involvement in business affairs. Another released prisoner is Ross Dunkley, editor of an Australian newspaper sentenced in 2019 to 13 years for drug possession. His release was confirmed by his ex-wife Cynda Johnston, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. Dunkley co-founded The Myanmar Times, an English-language newspaper, but was forced to give up his stake. He became famous for co-founding or acquiring English-language publications in formerly socialist states that sought foreign investment while liberalizing their economies, but was sometimes criticized for doing business with authoritarian regimes. In March, more than 600 people who had been jailed for demonstrating against the February coup were released from Insein prison, a rare conciliatory act by the military that seemed aimed at appeasing the protest movement.

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