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Myanmar: Junta announces amnesty for more than 7,000 prisoners

2023-01-04T15:47:55.874Z


Myanmar's military junta rules with an iron fist. Now the regime wants to release thousands of prisoners. It is unclear whether the amnesty also includes political prisoners.


Enlarge image

A man hugs a loved one after his release from Insein prison in the capital Yangon following an amnesty in autumn 2021

Photo: AFP

The military government in Myanmar has announced the release of 7,012 prisoners.

The amnesty will be issued on January 4 to mark the 75th anniversary of independence from Britain, state broadcaster MRTV reported.

It was initially not clear whether political prisoners would also be released.

According to the broadcaster, the amnesty excludes people imprisoned for murder, rape, illegal associations, possession of weapons, drugs, natural disaster management or corruption.

Such mass amnesties are not new in Myanmar.

Similar decisions were made by the regime around autumn 2021 and last November.

The military junta wants to demonstrate its power and present itself as generous.

However, thousands of other people remain in detention in Myanmar, as the United Nations, among others, drew attention to this in November.

It also remains unclear whether the junta will actually keep its promises.

In a speech, the head of the military government that has been in power for almost two years, General Min Aung Hlaing, thanked countries and individuals who support Myanmar despite international sanctions.

"We work closely with neighboring countries such as China, India, Thailand, Laos and Bangladesh," he said at the Independence Day military parade in the capital, Naypyitaw.

»We will work together on the stability and development of the borders.«

Brutal repression

On February 1, 2021, the military staged a coup, deposed the government at the time and arrested its de facto head, Aung San Suu Kyi.

The population protested against this for months with rallies, civil disobedience actions and strikes.

Thousands of people were arrested at the time and hundreds were killed by security forces.

The European Union, Britain, the US and other countries have imposed punitive measures on the Southeast Asian country's leadership.

Myanmar's army justified the removal of the democratically elected government by allegedly rigging the November 2020 parliamentary election, in which Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party won a landslide victory.

The army has long justified its claim to a central role in politics by claiming that it is the only one capable of holding together the country of 53 million people and numerous ethnic minorities.

After an earlier coup in 1962, the military ruled for 49 years.

It withdrew from politics from 2011, but without relinquishing control of civilian government.

While public protests and rallies are currently rare due to their brutal crackdown by security forces, the military clashes and fights with ethnic minority armed groups on an almost daily basis.

Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced.

The country descends into chaos.

At the end of 2022, the 77-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi was sentenced to seven more years in prison for corruption.

This completes all remaining procedures.

In total, Suu Kyi's sentence is 33 years.

col/Reuters

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2023-01-04

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