April 17 (Reuters) – Myanmar’s new President Min Aung Hlaing has approved an amnesty for 4,335 prisoners, state television reported on Friday, the third such move in the past six months.
The names of those included in the amnesty were not disclosed in the announcement on MRTV. Amnesties typically take place in Myanmar each year to mark its Independence Day in January and its New Year in April.
Among the 4,335 prisoners to be freed were 179 foreigners, who would be deported, MRTV said. The report also mentioned commutation of death sentences to life, life sentences to 40 years and term reductions by one-sixth for other prisoners, without elaborating.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a human rights group, has said more than 30,000 people were detained on political charges since the military, led by Min Aung Hlaing, staged a coup against an elected government in 2021.
Those held include deposed former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, ex-President Win Myint, remnants of their National League for Democracy party, and thousands of activists, demonstrators and members of anti-junta militia.
Suu Kyi is serving a 27-year sentence for a litany of offences her allies said were politically motivated to keep her at bay, ranging from incitement and corruption to election fraud and violating a state secrets law.
Suu Kyi, 80, who had dismissed the charges as “absurd”, has not been seen in public since the end of her marathon trials and her whereabouts are unknown.
In interviews last year with Reuters, her son, Kim Aris, said he had received only limited updates about her status but knew that her health was declining.
Myanmar’s former junta in November said it would pardon or drop charges against 8,665 people and in January announced more than 6,000 prisoners would be freed in an Independence Day amnesty.
Min Aung Hlaing, 69, was elected president by parliament on April 3, formalising his grip on power in a country still engaged in a civil war that has displaced more than 3.5 million people. At his inauguration last week, he said peace, stability and reconciliation were his priority.
(Reporting by Reuters Staff; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by John Mair)
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