Myanmar’s military government on Monday granted amnesty to more than 3,000 prisoners to mark the traditional lunar New Year holiday, but it wasn’t immediately clear if those released included the thousands of political detainees locked up for opposing army rule.
State-run MRTV television reported that the State Administration Council, the ruling body created by the military after it seized power in 2021, had pardoned 3,113 prisoners, including 98 foreigners who will be deported. Mass prisoner releases are common on major holidays. Some 17,460 political detainees, including Myanmar’s former civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, were in detention as of last Wednesday, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an independent organization that keeps detailed tallies of arrests and casualties linked to the nation’s political conflicts.
Tun Kyi, a senior member of the Former Political Prisoners Society, said it is not known how many of the political prisoners would be among those released, if any, but any such action would be taken to burnish the image of the military government. He said his group viewed such releases as trying to score political points, ease international pressure, and seek to demonstrate the military’s legitimacy.
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