YANGON – Myanmar will release more than 5,000 people jailed for protesting against a February coup that ousted the civilian government, said the country’s junta chief today.
A total of 5,636 prisoners will be freed to mark the Thadingyut festival later this month, said Min Aung Hlaing, days after he was excluded from a regional summit over his government’s commitment to defusing the bloody crisis.
Myanmar has been mired in chaos since the coup, with more than 1,100 civilians killed in a crackdown on dissent and over 8,000 arrested, according to a local monitoring group.
Over 7,300 are currently behind bars across the country, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
The junta chief gave no details on who will be included in the list, and prison authorities did not respond to AFP’s requests for comment.
Myanmar authorities released more than 2,000 anti-coup protesters from prisons across the country in July, including journalists critical of the military government.
Those still in custody include United States journalist Danny Fenster, who has been held since his arrest on May 24.
Junta shunned
The announcement on the amnesty comes after Asean on Friday decided to exclude Min Aung Hlaing from an upcoming summit over the military government’s handling of the crisis.
Foreign ministers of the bloc agreed that a “non-political representative” for Myanmar will be invited instead to the summit, slated for October 26 to 28.
The regional grouping, widely criticised as a toothless organisation, took a strong stand after the junta rebuffed requests that a special envoy meet “all stakeholders” in Myanmar – a phrase seen to include ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The statement noted “insufficient progress” in the implementation of a five-point plan agreed by Asean leaders in April to end the turmoil following the coup.
The junta slammed the decision, accusing the bloc of breaching its policy of non-interference in the domestic affairs of member states.
Myanmar, mostly ruled by the military since a 1962 coup, has been a thorn in Asean’s side since it joined in 1997.
Min Aung Hlaing’s administration has justified its power grab by citing alleged vote rigging in last year’s elections, which Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party won convincingly.
The coup snuffed out Myanmar’s short-lived dalliance with democracy, and the 76-year-old Suu Kyi now faces a raft of charges in a junta court that could see her jailed for decades.
Last week, her head lawyer said he has been banned by the junta from speaking to journalists, diplomats and international groups.
Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, who has spent much of her life resisting Myanmar’s generals, is scheduled to testify in court for the first time later this month. – AFP, October 18, 2021
