BANGKOK (AP) — Excited families greeted relatives released from Myanmar's Insein Prison on Thursday as part of a mass amnesty granted by the country's military rulers ahead of next month's election.
At least eight buses carrying prisoners were welcomed outside the gate of the Yangon prison at 11:30 a.m. by relatives and friends who had been waiting since early morning.
The military administration granted amnesty to more than 3,000 people locked up for opposing army rule and dropped charges against more than 5,500 others, state-run broadcaster MRTV reported Wednesday. The amnesty was intended to ensure eligible voters could participate in the Dec. 28 elections, it said.
An official from Insein Prison, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to release information, confirmed prisoners would be released starting Thursday but did not say how many or who they were. In past amnesties, releases have taken several days.
There was no sign that the prisoner release would include former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who led the National League for Democracy government ousted in the military takeover in 2021 and who has been held virtually incommunicado since then.
Among those freed were Kyi Toe, a member of NLD’s central information committee, and freelance journalist Zaw Lin Htut, also known as Phoe Thar. Both were arrested in 2021.
“I am determined to work with Aunty until I am 90 years old,” Kyi Toe told journalists as he arrived outside the prison gate. Aunty is a common expression of respect for Suu Kyi among senior NLD members.
He added that other senior NLD members still remain in prison.
Critics have asserted Myanmar's election will be neither free nor fair because there is no free media and most of the leaders of the dissolved NLD have been arrested.
MRTV said the National Defense and Security council, a constitutional administrative government body controlled by the military, granted amnesties covering 3,085 prisoners convicted under the part of the penal code known as the incitement law, which makes it a crime to spread comments that create public unrest or fear, or spread false news. It has been widely used to arrest critics of the government or military and is punishable by up to three years in prison.
Conditional release was granted to 724 prisoners, who would have to serve the rest of their old sentence if they commit a new offense, and 5,580 people who are either being prosecuted or are in hiding, will receive amnesty and have their incitement cases closed.
Some 22,708 political detainees, including Suu Kyi, were in detention as of Wednesday, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an independent organization that keeps detailed tallies of arrests.
The 80-year-old Suu Kyi is serving a 27-year sentence after being convicted in what supporters have called politically tinged prosecutions.
The army takeover in 2021 was met with massive nonviolent resistance, which has since become a widespread armed struggle.