Myanmar military government releases more than 1600 prisoners to mark the holidays

Asia-Pacific, News April 20, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

Myanmar’s military government released more than 1600 prisoners on April 17 to mark the celebrations of the traditional New Year holidays. However, no political prisoner was included in the list of released prisoners.

Myanmar went under military rule since February 2021, when the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi was ousted as a result of an army coup. The military takeover of Myanmar was met with severe resistance which was even termed a civil war situation by many experts at the United Nations.

The political leaders in Myanmar have been urging people to put up a united front against the military government. Since the fall of her government, the Noble laureate and State Counsellor of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained by the military on the charges of violating stated secretes, taking bribes in form of cash, and gold as well as other counts of corruption. She can be sentenced to prison for more than 150 years.

Mass prisoner release is a common practice that is carried out every year in Myanmar to celebrate the traditional New Year holidays. The spokesman of Myanmar’s Prison Department Khin Shwe told the media that the released prisoners were mostly drug offenders and common criminals and that he was unaware of any political prisoners were among them.

Many analysts were expecting the military government to release some political prisoners during the holiday celebrations in order to calm down the looming threat of a major civil war. However, the current military leadership of Myanmar plans to carry out its crackdown on political factions in the country.

*^{a protester holds a poster featuring Aung San Suu Kyi as they take part in a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon on March 2, 2021. (Image Credit: AFP)}*

According to the stats from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, there are at least 10,238 people, including Aung San Suu Kyi, that are detained based on their political affiliation.

Myanmar is one of the poorest countries in Asia. The living standards in Myanmar soared even further during the Covid-19 pandemic and political turmoil that followed. Myanmar military has been carrying out full-scale offensive operations against ethnic minorities in the countryside as well as the resistance activists in urban areas. The opponents on the other hand have established their own shadow government and militia. The resistance forces claim to have more control in the urban areas however it is currently impossible to verify the claims from either side over the territorial control.

Some sources suggest that the verdict on Aung San Suu Kyi’s corruption trial is set to come out next week, which is one of the reasons why no political prisoners were pardoned by the military government during the holidays as the law and order situation of the country is expected to deteriorate even further following the verdict.

This year the number of released prisoners is much lower compared to the previous years. In the year 2021, more than 2300 prisoners were granted amnesty during the New Year celebrations.