Last update: 03 May 2023, 10:21 IST
In this photo taken on March 9, 2023, members of the rebel National Liberation Army Ta’ang ethnic group patrol near Namhsan township in Myanmar’s northern Shan state. (AFP)
The military has arrested thousands of protesters and activists since the February 2021 putsch that plunged the country into turmoil
Myanmar’s junta announced on Wednesday it had pardoned more than 2,000 prisoners jailed under a law widely used in its crackdown on dissent since taking power more than two years ago.
The army has arrested thousands of protesters and activists since the February 2021 putsch that plunged the country into turmoil.
Pardons were granted to “2,153 prisoners serving sentences under Penal Code 505(a) to mark Kasone Full Moon Day,” a holiday marking the birth of the Buddha, the junta said in a statement.
The law provides for a maximum prison term of three years.
The army ordered the pardon “for the peaceful spirit of the people and for humanitarian reasons”, he said.
Those who re-offend will have to serve the remainder of their sentence with an additional sentence, he added.
Myanmar typically grants amnesties to thousands of prisoners to mark national or Buddhist holidays.
Wednesday’s announcement comes as Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang is visiting for talks with the internationally isolated generals.
On Tuesday, he met with junta leader Min Aung Hlaing, becoming the highest-ranking Chinese official to have met the general-in-chief since the coup.
“China urges the international community to respect Myanmar’s sovereignty and play a constructive role in helping it achieve peace and reconciliation,” Qin said, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Several Beijing-backed infrastructure projects are expected to cross northern Myanmar and connect China’s landlocked Yunnan province to the Indian Ocean.
Repression
More than 21,000 people have been arrested since the military overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s government, according to a local watchdog group.
At least 170 journalists were arrested during this period, according to the United Nations.
Suu Kyi has been detained since the early hours of the coup.
In December, the junta concluded a series of closed trials against the 77-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate, jailing her for a total of 33 years in a process that rights groups have condemned like a deception.
More than 3,400 people have been killed in the army’s crackdown on dissent since the coup, according to a watchdog group.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)
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