Myanmar Frees Around 4,900 Prisoners   04/17 06:15

   

   BANGKOK (AP) -- The head of Myanmar's military government granted amnesty to 
around 4,900 prisoners to mark the country's traditional new year, state-run 
media reported Thursday, and an independent watchdog said they included at 
least 22 political detainees.

   At least 19 buses with prisoners aboard left Yangon's Insein prison and were 
welcomed outside the gate by excited family members and friends who had been 
waiting since early morning.

   The Political Prisoners Network -- Myanmar, an independent watchdog group 
that records violations of human rights in Myanmar's prisons, said in a 
statement that by its initial count, 22 political prisoners had been freed.

   Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the ruling military council, 
pardoned 4,893 prisoners, MRTV reported. Thirteen foreigners will also be 
released and deported from Myanmar, it said in a separate statement.

   Other prisoners received reduced sentences, except for those convicted of 
serious charges such as murder and rape, or those jailed on charges under 
various other security acts.

   If the freed detainees violate the law again, they will have to serve the 
remainder of their original sentences in addition to any new sentence, 
according to the terms of their release. Mass amnesties on the holiday are not 
unusual in Myanmar.

   Myanmar has been under military rule since Feb. 1, 2021, when its army 
ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government. The takeover was 
met with massive nonviolent resistance, which has since become a widespread 
armed struggle. The country is now in civil war.

   Some 22,197 political detainees, including Suu Kyi, were in detention as of 
last Friday, 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.

   Many political detainees had been held on a charge of incitement, a 
catch-all offense widely used to arrest critics of the government or military 
and punishable by up to three years in prison.

   Among those imprisoned for incitement who were freed Thursday was the film 
director who works under the name of Steel and is also known as Dwe Myittar. He 
was arrested in March 2023 and had been held in Insein Prison.

   This year's celebrations of Thingyan, the new year's holiday, were more 
reserved than usual due to a nationwide grieving period following a devastating 
March 28 earthquake that killed about 3,725 people and leveled structures from 
new condos to ancient pagodas.

   In a new year's speech, Min Aung Hlaing said his government will carry out 
reconstruction and rehabilitation measures in the quake-affected areas as 
quickly as possible. He also reaffirmed plans to hold a general election by the 
end of the year and called on opposition groups fighting the army to resolve 
the conflicts in political ways.

   During the holiday, the violent struggle between the army and pro-democracy 
forces continued with reports of clashes in the countryside but the number of 
casualties was unclear.