Myanmar pardons 500 prisoners, dissidents in latest amnesty
Myanmar pardoned more than 500 prisoners on Monday in an amnesty that included political detainees, a step that could strengthen the state’s growing bonds with Washington.
Myanmar pardoned more than 500 prisoners on Monday in an amnesty that included political detainees, according to the opposition party, a step that could strengthen the former military state’s growing bonds with Washington.
A government bulletin announcing the news on state television did not make clear if any of those affected were political inmates. But Naing Naing, an official of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party, said he was hopeful the amnesty included the country’s 424 remaining political prisoners.
“We’re optimistic that these are the remaining political prisoners,” said Naing Naing, himself a former political prisoner.
The NLD, he added, received word of the freed political prisoners from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a Thai-based group that tracks prisoners in Myanmar, also known as Burma.
Contacted by Reuters, Bo Kyi, secretary-general of the AAPP, said political prisoners were among those who had been released but the organisation needed more time to confirm the number.
The timing of the amnesty is significant, coming days ahead of a visit to the United States by Myanmar’s reformist President, Thein Sein, and a separate US trip that began on Monday by opposition leader Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner.
