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Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing inspects a parade
Photo: REUTERS
The military junta in Myanmar announced an amnesty this week.
7000 men and women benefit from this.
According to the United Nations, 300 of them are political prisoners.
The reason for the amnesty: the 75th anniversary of independence from the British Crown.
The former colony of Myanmar declared this on January 4, 1948.
This was preceded by a long struggle for liberation led by General Aung San, father of deposed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
A spokesman for the UN human rights office, Jeremy Laurence, said on Friday in Geneva that the number of 300 political prisoners was based on credible sources and that 195 cases had been checked.
However, on the day the junta announced the amnesty, there were again 22 arrests.
The local aid organization for political prisoners (AAPP) also estimated on Friday that 300 political prisoners would now be released.
The release was a "relief for those wrongly arrested, but also for their families," said Laurence.
The amnesty also gives reason to call for the release of thousands more people who have been imprisoned for protesting against the junta.
Of the nearly 17,000 prisoners held in Myanmar since the coup, more than 13,000 remain in detention, Lawrence said.
For Myanmar to emerge from the crisis, people must not be locked up - "rather, they must be allowed to participate freely, fully and effectively in political life," said the spokesman.
Criticism of junta from Europe and the USA
The military overthrew the elected government of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar in February 2021 and took power again.
The protests against the putsch were suppressed by the military, some violently, and thousands of demonstrators were arrested.
Wenige Tage vor der Bekanntgabe der Amnestie war die Haftstrafe für die mit dem Militärputsch im Februar 2021 entmachtete De-facto-Regierungschefin Aung San Suu Kyi auf 33 Jahre verlängert worden. Die EU und die USA übten scharfe Kritik an dem Urteil.
dop/AFP