Hundreds of prisoners walked free in Myanmar on Sunday after the junta announced annual independence day pardons, just a week after the start of an election that international monitors have denounced as sham.<\/p>\n
The military grabbed power in a 2021 coup that triggered civil war, pitting pro-democracy rebels against junta forces, with thousands of activists since arrested.<\/p>\n
A dozen buses full of released prisoners exited Yangon’s Insein prison on Sunday morning, with some waving to crowds of well-wishers, AFP journalists saw.<\/p>\n
Family members outside the prison held up signs with the names of their jailed loved ones, unsure if they would be among those freed.<\/p>\n
One man said he was hoping to see his father, who was jailed for “doing politics”.<\/p>\n
“His sentence is about to end. I hope he will be released as soon as possible,” said the man, who declined to be named due to security concerns.<\/p>\n
In total, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing pardoned 6,134 imprisoned Myanmar nationals, the National Defence and Security Council said, adding 52 foreign prisoners would also be released and deported.<\/p>\n
The yearly prisoner amnesty that the junta said was “on humanitarian and compassionate grounds” was announced as the country marks 78 years of independence from British colonial rule.<\/p>\n
Several freed men and women embraced relatives in tears outside Insein, which is notorious for alleged brutal rights abuses.<\/p>\n
Some who spoke to AFP said they had been arrested for drugs, theft and other non-political crimes.<\/p>\n
“I am very happy to reunite with my family,” said 35-year-old Yazar Tun, as he held one of his three children outside Insein.<\/p>\n
He said he served around eight months of a year-long sentence for loitering.<\/p>\n
Prominent model and former doctor Nang Mwe San was also among those released, an AFP journalist saw.<\/p>\n
She was arrested in 2022 on a charge of “harming culture and dignity” for posting allegedly explicit videos online.
\n– Decisive lead –<\/p>\n
Myanmar’s junta opened voting in a phased month-long election a week ago, with its leaders pledging the poll would bring on democracy and national reconciliation.<\/p>\n
However, rights advocates and Western diplomats have condemned it as a sham and a rebranding of martial rule.<\/p>\n
The pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) has a decisive lead in the first phase, winning 90 percent of the lower house seats announced so far, according to official results published in state media on Saturday and Sunday.<\/p>\n
Many analysts describe the USDP as a civilian proxy of the military.<\/p>\n
Two more phases of voting are scheduled for January 11 and 25.<\/p>\n
The massively popular but dissolved National League for Democracy (NLD) of democratic figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi did not appear on ballots, and she has been jailed since the coup.<\/p>\n
The military overturned the results of the last poll in 2020 after the NLD defeated the USDP by a landslide.<\/p>\n
The military and USDP then alleged massive voter fraud, claims that international monitors say were unfounded.<\/p>\n
The junta has said turnout in the first phase last month exceeded 50 percent of eligible voters, below the 2020 participation rate of around 70 percent.<\/p>\n
Myanmar frequently grants amnesty to thousands of prisoners to commemorate holidays or Buddhist festivals.<\/p>\n
The junta announced the release of more than 9,000 prisoners to mark independence day in 2024, and nearly 6,000 for the same occasion last year.<\/p>\n
A key aide to Suu Kyi was among hundreds of prisoners freed in a pre-election amnesty in November.<\/p>\n
The junta said that month it was dropping sentences for more than 3,000 prisoners, after they were prosecuted under post-coup legislation restricting free speech.<\/p>\n
bur\/sco\/ceg<\/p>\n
\u00a9 Agence France-Presse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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