Myanmar junta to free 9,652 prisoners on humanitarian grounds
Myanmar's ruling junta government will release 9,652 prisoners, including 114 foreigners, under an amnesty to mark the country's independence day, state media reported on Thursday.
Since the military's seizure of power in February 2021, Myanmar has been embroiled in ongoing turmoil, marked by the reversal of a decade-long democratic experiment and the use of forceful measures to suppress protests.
In an official statement broadcast via state media, the junta expressed its intent to foster international relations and act on humanitarian grounds by granting amnesty to 114 foreign prisoners, who will subsequently be deported.
Reports from local media in Yangon, the nation's commercial hub, indicated gatherings of people outside Insein Prison in anticipation of the prisoners' release.
Notably absent from the list of pardoned individuals is Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains in detention facing cumulative sentences amounting to 27 years. She has been convicted of various charges, including incitement, election fraud, and corruption, all of which she vehemently refutes.
Despite international outcry, the military authorities maintain that Suu Kyi underwent a fair legal process overseen by an impartial court.
Historically, authorities have chosen this occasion, marking Myanmar's liberation from British colonial rule, to release certain prisoners as part of customary practice.
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