Myanmar’s junta chief yesterday announced the release of more than 5,000 people jailed for protesting against a February coup, days after ASEAN delivered a major snub to the military regime.
There has been chaos in Myanmar since the coup, with more than 1,100 civilians killed in a bloody crackdown on dissent and more than 8,000 arrested, a local monitoring group said.
More than 7,300 people are currently behind bars, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said.
Photo: AFP
Burmese Army Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said a total of 5,636 prisoners are to be freed to mark the Thadingyut festival later this month.
He gave no details on who would be included in the list and when they would be freed. Prison authorities did not respond to requests for comment.
The announcement comes on the heels of ASEAN’s decision to exclude Min Aung Hlaing from the group’s summit on Tuesday to Thursday next week over his administration’s commitment to defuse the bloody crisis.
The Democratic Voice of Burma news Web site said three of its journalists, all held for about six months, had been freed.
Burmese authorities released more than 2,000 anti-coup protesters from prisons across the country in June, including journalists critical of the military government.
Those still in custody include US journalist Danny Fenster, who was arrested on May 24.
Mya Nu, who said her daughter was arrested in April, was one of dozens waiting outside Yangon’s Insein prison after the latest announcement in the hope their loved ones would be among those set free.
“I didn’t get a chance to meet her yet,” she said. “It’s only through her lawyer that I know she’s in good health.”
More than 1,300 of those due to be released would be freed on the condition they sign agreements promising not to reoffend, according to the junta’s statement.
Such agreements were “basically a form of parole that entails constant menacing surveillance,” said David Mathieson, an analyst formerly based in Myanmar.
“It doesn’t absolve the SAC [State Administration Council, as the junta calls itself] of nine months of extreme violence,” he said.
The AAPP slammed the release as a “form of distraction” aimed at foreign governments.
“The intention is not to relax repression,” it said in a statement posted on Twitter.
ASEAN on Friday decided to exclude Min Aung Hlaing, instead choosing to invite a “non-political representative” for Myanmar to the summit.
The organization, widely criticized as “toothless,” took a stand after the junta rebuffed requests for a special envoy to meet “all stakeholders” in Myanmar — a phrase seen to include ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The junta slammed the decision, accusing ASEAN of breaching its policy of non-interference in the domestic affairs of member states.
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