The military junta that has ruled Myanmar since the February 2021 coup has said it has pardoned 2,153 among an estimated 21,000 people in prison for criticizing the regime in the past two years. The prisoners were released on the occasion of a religious festival celebrating the birth of Buddha: in a statement, the junta said it had pardoned them “for the peace of the people and for humanitarian reasons”. About two weeks ago more 3,113 people they had been released to coincide with the beginning of the new year according to the Burmese calendar.
After taking power in a coup in 2021, the Burmese military junta arrested all the main leaders of the majority party, including Aung San Suu Kyi, head of the democratically elected government, and installed an extremely repressive regime . Within two years, thousands of people were killed in Myanmar and major protests against the dictatorship were violently repressed. The national law provides that people convicted of dissent can be imprisoned for a maximum of three years: the junta has announced that anyone caught offending again will have to serve the rest of the sentence, with an additional penalty.
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