Myanmar’s large amnesty

Myanmar’s military government used the New Year holiday to announce one of its biggest prisoner amnesties in months, freeing more than 4,000 inmates on April 17. (usnews.com) State media put the total at 4,335 prisoners, while local and Associated Press reporting said more than 4,500 were covered by the pardon order. The decree also said 179 foreign nationals would be released and deported. (usnews.com) (apnews.com) Former president Win Myint was among those freed, according to state media and local outlets, and he returned home on April 17 after more than five years in detention. Aung San Suu Kyi was not released, but her lawyer said her 27-year sentence was cut by one-sixth, or about 4½ years. (apnews.com) (english.dvb.no) (usnews.com) The amnesty came one week after Min Aung Hlaing was sworn in as president on April 10, following a military-run political process that kept the armed forces at the center of power. He led the February 1, 2021 coup that overthrew Suu Kyi’s elected government and detained both her and Win Myint. (english.dvb.no) (aljazeera.com) (apnews.com) Myanmar often issues mass pardons on Independence Day in January and at the April New Year, and Reuters described this as the third such move in six months. The order also reduced death sentences to life imprisonment, cut life terms to 40 years, and trimmed other prison terms by one-sixth. (usnews.com) (nationthailand.com) The unanswered question is how many political prisoners were actually included. State television did not publish a full list of names, and rights groups said thousands of people jailed since the coup remain behind bars. (usnews.com) (aappb.org) (eng.mizzima.com) The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners says more than 30,000 people have been detained on political charges since 2021. The United Nations said in January, five years after the coup, that Myanmar’s crisis had deepened with escalating violence, mass displacement and repression. (thestar.com.my) (news.un.org) United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said through a spokesperson that the amnesty should be followed by broader steps, including the release of all detainees and an end to violence. Rights advocates welcomed Win Myint’s release but said the pardon did not change the wider pattern of arrests and abuses. (ungeneva.org) (newdaymyanmar.com) So the April 17 amnesty did two things at once: it emptied some cells and produced a headline. But Suu Kyi remains imprisoned, thousands of other detainees remain unaccounted for, and the military still controls the state that jailed them. (usnews.com) (aappb.org)