Yangon, 3 August
The Assistance Association for the Political Prisoners (AAPP) has condemned the military council for a small number of political prisoners among the almost 8,000 detainees freed from various jails across the country.
The military council granted amnesty to 7,749 male and female prisoners serving sentences in various prisons, detention centers, and labor camps across the country in commemoration of the second full moon day Waso (Dhammacakka Day), on August 1.
According to information received until 2 August evening, AAPP stated that only more than 200 political prisoners had been given pardon.
Most of the released political prisoners are only two or three months away from their release date.
An official of the AAPP said, “The move by the military council is to deceive the international community. The military council arrested and then released political prisoners who should not have been arrested in the first place. They hold political prisoners as hostages and release some with reduced sentences if they need to play political game. This is their strategy”.
The military council, which pardoned over 8,000 inmates, reduced the prison sentence for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi by six years for five cases and by four years for President U Win Myint for two cases.
In addition, 125 foreign prisoners were pardoned, and political prisoners sentenced to death were commuted to life imprisonment.
The military council arrests and imprisons people who oppose them as well as those who support the National Unity Government (NUG), Committee Representing Pyidaunsu Hluttaw (CRPH), and the People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) on a daily basis.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) reported on August 1 that there are nearly 20,000 political prisoners still being held nationwide.
News-Than Lwin Times
Photo-MOI