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Myanmar’s junta pardons more than 7,000 prisoners

January 5, 2023/in News

The Independence Day amnesty includes a former National League for Democracy minister, authors and journalists. UPDATED AT 4:44 p.m. ET on 01-04-2023 Myanmar’s military rulers ordered the release of 7,012 inmates, including some political prisoners, in an Independence Day amnesty Wednesday. Detainees held in prisons and police stations across the country had their sentences reduced […]

Imprisoned NLD religious affairs minister among thousands freed in amnesty

January 5, 2023/in News

Thura Aung Ko is released from Yangon’s Insein Prison some 10 months after being convicted of corruption by Myanmar’s military regime The Myanmar junta released former religious affairs minister Thura Aung Ko from Yangon’s Insein Prison on Tuesday night in an amnesty ahead of the country’s January 4 Independence Day, according to a relative of […]

Myanmar’s junta pardons more than 7,000 prisoners

January 5, 2023/in News

Imprisoned NLD religious affairs minister among thousands freed in amnesty

January 5, 2023/in News

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Myanmar’s junta pardons more than 7,000 prisoners

January 5, 2023/in News

The Independence Day amnesty includes a former National League for Democracy minister, authors and journalists.

UPDATED AT 4:44 p.m. ET on 01-04-2023

Myanmar’s military rulers ordered the release of 7,012 inmates, including some political prisoners, in an Independence Day amnesty Wednesday.

Detainees held in prisons and police stations across the country had their sentences reduced in accordance with Section 401 of the Penal Code, according to junta news releases received by RFA.

Wednesday marks the 75^th anniversary of the end of British colonial rule and the junta held grand ceremonies to commemorate the event in Yangon, Mandalay and the capital Naypyidaw.

Lawyers, who wished to remain anonymous, told RFA some political prisoners had already returned to their homes early Wednesday, while families of others were still waiting outside prisons.

Minister of Religious Affairs under the National League for Democracy-led government, Thura Aung Ko, was released from Yangon’s Insein Prison Tuesday night. He had been serving a 12-year sentence for alleged corruption. Police officers and soldiers took him to his home in Yangon, his daughter wrote on her Facebook page.

The National League for Democracy won a landslide victory in 2020 elections but the NLD-led government was overthrown in a February, 2021 coup. The junta has arrested many party members along with the country’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was sentenced to a total of 33 years in prison, and President Win Myint who faces 12 years behind bars.

Neither Suu Kyi nor Win Myint were included in the amnesty.

Writer Than Myint Aung.jpg — Author Than Myint Aung shortly after her release from Insein Prison, Yangon on Jan. 4, 2023. Credit: RFA

Writers freed

Among those released from Yangon’s Insein prison were authors Than Myint Aung and Htin Lin Oo, a Yangon lawyer, who didn’t want to be named for safety reasons, told RFA.

Than Myint Aung is a well-known fiction writer who also worked for many charities in Myanmar. She had been serving a three-year sentence for alleged incitement. Htin Lin Oo was also sentenced to three years in prison for sedition.

Poet Myo Tay Zar Maung, who had been sentenced to two years for sedition, was freed from Yamethin Prison north of Naypyidaw Wednesday.

Journalists Kyaw Zeya, Ah Hla Lay Thu Zar, Lway M. Phoung, Pyae Phyo Aung, Sai Ko Ko Tun and Ye Tun Oo were also among those set to be freed as was Naing Ngan Lin, the social affairs minister for Yangon region under the NLD-led government.

Thu Zar, who was arrested by the junta in September 2021 and sentenced to two years, described her release as bittersweet.

“No other journalists have been released from Insein prison. Since many journalists are still in prison, I can’t be fully happy with my release,” she told RFA.

In spite of the Independence Day amnesty, and one on National Day last November, the junta continues to target opposition politicians and real or alleged pro-democracy activists. More than 16,800 have arrested since the coup, according to Thailand-based monitoring group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma). Ahead of Wednesday’s amnesty, it said 13,375 political prisoners were still being held.

People protest junta rule in Tanintharyi region’s Dawei township, Jan. 4, 2023. Credit: RFA

Little to celebrate

Wednesday’s events to mark the diamond jubilee anniversary of Independence Day were substantial, and held under tight security. In Yangon, festive markets and fairs were put on in Shwedagon Pagoda, People’s Square and Maha Bandula Park in the city center.

But several residents of Myanmar’s largest city chose to boycott the festivities, telling RFA that national independence means little to a people living under military rule.

“Both last year and this one, I’ve been overwhelmed by the idea that our country has not yet truly gained independence,” said one Yangon resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing fear of reprisal.

“I will regard and embrace a day as one of independence only when citizens can go about freely and enjoy full democracy in our country. But for now, I only have a very dim memory of the history of Independence Day that I learned in books. To me, it’s just another day.”

An official from the Dagon University Students’ Union told RFA that the heavy security presence at Wednesday’s anniversary events reflected Myanmar’s current state of insecurity and lack of freedom.

“It seems to me that there is no honor in [junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing] celebrating Independence Day in a festive manner after he robbed the country of its power in a coup,” the official said.

“No matter how many celebrations [the military leaders] organize, they know that they themselves are not free. The … many layers of security indicate that the people do not accept them.”

In his New Year’s Day speech, even Min Aung Hlaing admitted that although Myanmar would be celebrating its 75th year of independence on Wednesday, the country had not yet experienced “true independence.”

Family members greet a man released from prison as part of the junta’s general amnesty in Shan state’s city of Lashio, Jan. 4, 2023. Credit: RFA

Few changes expected in 2023

Political analyst Than Soe Naing noted that only the junta and its followers marked Independence Day with festivities, while the rest of the country’s inhabitants chose to mourn the lost of their right to self-determination.

“Only a few followers of the military rulers received titles awarded by the junta and portrayed today as an Independence Day celebration but, due to the military’s aggression throughout the country, the number of refugees from conflict in Myanmar has increased to 1.5 million,” he said.

“In other words, it is a time when the people of Myanmar have lost their right to enjoy independence and are facing all sorts of problems, and it is also a time when they are choosing to fight back.”

Anti-junta activists told RFA they have little hope that the rights violations they experienced during the last two years of military rule — including arrests, killings and the torching of residential homes — will change in 2023. The junta’s plan to hold a general election this year will do little to alter that expectation, they said, because it will be neither be free nor fair.

Ahead of Wednesday’s celebrations, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that if the junta wants to see an independent Myanmar, it should hand power back to the country’s people.

“Today, Burma’s military regime stands in the way of democratic progress and the will of the people,” he said. “The military regime must end its violence, release those unjustly detained, allow unhindered humanitarian access, and recognize the desire of the people for a genuine and inclusive democracy in Burma.”

Translated by Myo Min Aung and Kyaw Min Htun. Written in English by Mike Firn and Joshua Lipes.

This story has been updated to include reactions to the junta’s general amnesty, expectations for Myanmar in 2023, and a statement by the U.S. Secretary of State.

RFA News

Imprisoned NLD religious affairs minister among thousands freed in amnesty

January 5, 2023/in News

Thura Aung Ko is released from Yangon’s Insein Prison some 10 months after being convicted of corruption by Myanmar’s military regime

The Myanmar junta released former religious affairs minister Thura Aung Ko from Yangon’s Insein Prison on Tuesday night in an amnesty ahead of the country’s January 4 Independence Day, according to a relative of the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) official.

The ex-general was among more than 7,000 prisoners who were said to have been freed in the move.

Aung Ko was arrested on February 1, 2021, the day of the military coup, along with several other members of the NLD’s cabinet. He was sentenced in March of last year to 12 years in prison for alleged corruption, an accusation that the military regime levied against many of the NLD’s top leaders—including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint—in an attempt to neutralise its political rivals.

On the same day that Aung Ko was sentenced, the military reduced his prison term by half.

While in custody in Insein, he was reportedly in poor health and required medical attention for anaemia and an enlargement of his heart.

A relative of the former government minister, who turned 75 on Wednesday, confirmed to Myanmar Now that as of Tuesday night he had returned to his family residence.

“I think he is feeling much better because he is back home now,” said the relative, who did not disclose further details regarding Aung Ko’s release.

Despite Aung Ko’s military background and his earlier role as a central executive committee member of the Union Solidarity and Development Party—the army’s political proxy—Aung Ko angered his fellow generals by backing the NLD’s calls for amendments to Myanmar’s military-drafted 2008 Constitution.

He was also scorned by members of the military for his role in abolishing Ma Ba Tha, an ultranationalist group led by hate-preaching monk Wirathu, who was arrested in November 2020 during Aung Ko’s tenure as minister for religious affairs.
Outside_obo.jpeg

People wait outside Obo Prison in Mandalay on Wednesday to see if their incarcerated loved ones are among those released in the January 4 amnesty (Supplied by CJ)

The junta said in a Wednesday announcement that it would free a total of 7,012 inmates from jails across the country for “the peace of mind of the public, being considerate of social circumstances, and in commemoration of the country’s Independence Day.”

Individuals convicted of charges related to terrorism, the use of explosives, unlawful association, corruption, murder or drugs would not be among those released, the junta said in state media.

According to local media reports, Than Myint Aung, who served as an NLD-appointed member of Yangon’s municipal committee, was also freed from Insein Prison, as was renowned author and former information officer for the NLD Htin Lin Oo. They were arrested on the day of the coup and sentenced to three years for incitement.

Several other anti-regime activists convicted of incitement by military-controlled courts were reportedly included in Wednesday’s amnesty, but Myanmar Now was unable to obtain further information about these individuals at the time of reporting.

Reporting by Han Thit and Sa Tun Aung.

A recently released prisoner talks to his family member from the window of a vehicle arranged by prison authorities to transport inmates out of the Insein Prison compound (Supplied by CJ)

A woman outside of Insein Prison holds a sign with the name of her son, reading ‘Mom has come to pick you up’ (Supplied by CJ)

Myanmar Now News

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ND-Burma formed in 2004 in order to provide a way for Burma human rights organizations to collaborate on the human rights documentation process. The 13 ND-Burma member organizations seek to collectively use the truth of what communities in Burma have endured to advocate for justice for victims. ND-Burma trains local organizations in human rights documentation; coordinates members’ input into a common database using Martus, a secure open-source software; and engages in joint-advocacy campaigns.

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