Irrawaddy-Feb 14
The Myanmar junta’s Union Day prisoner amnesty has seen only convicted criminals released from jail rather than political dissidents. The regime released 814 criminals on Saturday on the condition that if they are convicted of another offense in the future, they will have to serve the remainder of their previous sentence in addition to any new one. Seven Sri Lanka nationals were also released and deported under the amnesty. “It is sad that prisoners of conscience were not released. The regime still holds them because it dare not release them,” said one former political prisoner from Mandalay. Up to February 11 this year, 9,087 people have been detained for anti-regime activities since last year’s coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). 703 of those have been convicted and imprisoned, with 45 of them, including two teenagers, given the death sentence. A lawyer acting for anti-coup activists detained in Yangon’s Insein Prison said that the regime wants to give the international community the false impression that it has released dissidents. “But at the same time, it [the amnesty] sends an explicit message to the opposition forces inside the country that the junta won’t release political prisoners,” he added. Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-juntas-prisoner-amnesty-no-political-dissidents-released.html
