Mass amnesty in Myanmar: military junta wants to release thousands of prisoners

mass apology in myanmar
Military junta wants to release thousands of prisoners

11/17/2022 5:03 am

A military junta has ruled Myanmar with an iron fist since a coup in February 2021. Countless opponents and protesters are then arrested. Amazingly, around 6,000 prisoners are now due to be released – including prominent foreigners such as a British diplomat.

According to reports, about 6,000 prisoners are to be released as part of a mass amnesty in the crisis-hit country of Myanmar. There are many prominent foreigners among them. He was sentenced to long prison terms by courts controlled by the military junta. Australian economics professor Sean Turnell, former British ambassador Vicky Bowman, her husband Hetin Lin and Japanese journalist Toru Kubota will be released from prison on Thursday. The occasion is a celebration of Myanmar’s national holiday, a junta representative told the AFP news agency.

A junta official said a total of 5,774 prisoners, including about 600 women, would be released. Earlier he had told the number to be around 700. The junta’s representative did not say how many people were pardoned and arrested during the wave of arrests that followed the military coup last year.

Turnell is a former advisor to ousted Prime Minister Aung San Suu Kyi. He was arrested shortly after the February 2021 military coup and was on trial for allegedly violating an official secrets law. In late September he was sentenced to three years in prison – to the horror of human rights activists around the world. The Australian government has repeatedly called for Ternell’s release. Associate professors have also been committed to him for several months.

Prime Minister Aung San Suu Kyi in solitary confinement

Vicky Bowman, Britain’s ambassador to Myanmar from 2002 to 2006, was sentenced in early September to a year in prison over alleged immigration breaches. Her Myanmar husband, artist Htin Lin, was accused of aiding and abetting and also sentenced to one year in prison.

In October, Japanese journalist Toru Kubota was sentenced to a total of 10 years in prison for sedition and breach of communications and immigration laws. The documentary filmmaker was arrested after filming a protest in the largest city of Yangon.

Since the coup and removal of de facto Prime Minister Aung San Suu Kyi, the junta has ruled with an iron fist. The military is cracking down on any resistance, violently suppressing protests. Foreigners are also targeted by the generals. Suu Kyi is being held in solitary confinement in a prison and faces a series of new charges in court. Human rights activists talk of show trials. More than 2,000 people have been killed and at least 14,000 arrested in protests and clashes with the army, according to local groups.