Soe Win, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar’s Protection Providers, speaks throughout a ceremony to mark nation’s 77th Independence Day in Naypyidaw on January 4, 2025. (Picture by AFP)
NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar — Myanmar’s embattled junta authorities on Saturday stated it might launch nearly 6,000 prisoners as a part of an annual amnesty to mark the nation’s independence day.
The navy has arrested hundreds of protesters and activists since its February 2021 coup that ended Myanmar’s transient democratic experiment and plunged the nation into turmoil.
Greater than 5,800 prisoners — together with 180 foreigners — might be freed, the junta stated in a press release on Saturday, when the nation marks 77 years of independence from British colonial rule.
It didn’t give particulars of what the prisoners had been convicted of or the nationalities of the overseas detainees who have been set to be deported on launch.
The navy stated it ordered the pardons “on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.”
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The junta additionally introduced that 144 individuals who had been sentenced to life in jail would have their sentences commuted to fifteen years.
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Myanmar continuously grants amnesty to hundreds of prisoners to commemorate holidays or Buddhist festivals.
Final yr, the junta introduced the discharge of greater than 9,000 prisoners to mark independence day.
The annual independence day ceremony held within the closely guarded capital Naypyidaw on Saturday morning noticed round 500 authorities and navy attendees.
A speech by junta chief Min Aung Hlaing — who was not current on the occasion — was delivered by deputy military chief Soe Win.
Soe Win reiterated the junta’s name to dozens of ethnic minority armed teams which have been combating it for the final 4 years to place down arms and “resolve the political subject via peaceable means.”
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He repeated a navy pledge to carry delayed democratic elections and known as for nationwide unity.
