A statement on the Information Ministry’s Facebook page said the prisoners were being freed for “humanitarian” reasons and for national reconciliation.
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Myanmar announced the release of thousands of prisoners including scores of Chinese loggers on Thursday in a mass amnesty aimed at promoting “goodwill”, officials said, after a series of spats between Yangon and Beijing. The remaining pair each received a 10-year jail sentence.
A court in Kachin state, near Yunnan province, sentenced 153 of the Chinese nationals to life in prison on July 22 for illegal logging, according to the defendants’ lawyer. Past governments have released political prisoners as a way of easing criticism from overseas.
The polls have triggered criticism of Thein Sein’s government that it is backsliding on promised political reforms after nearly five decades of repressive military rule.
Zaw Htay, director of the office of President Thein Sein, said in an interview that 6,966 prisoners were released in an amnesty, including 210 foreigners and nine former military-intelligence officers who were purged under Myanmar’s previous ruling junta.
The relationship saw many of Myanmar’s raw materials sucked across its northern border into China, spurring popular anger in the former junta-ruled country which is set to hold a general election in November.
China’s Foreign Ministry said Myanmar authorities had notified Chinese official that the 155 would be handed over to their custody on Friday. Chinese economic penetration is big and highly visible in northern Myanmar, and some large infrastructure and mining projects have drawn charges of being insensitive to the environment and local concerns.
A released prisoner, center, is welcomed by his family members…
China is also seen as providing a safe haven for some Burmese ethnic rebel groups with which Burma’s government would like to reach ceasefire agreements.
U Tun Kyi, a member of the Free Political Prisoners Society (FPPS), told The Myanmar Times that they heard some political prisoners were included in the amnesty but they were not sure how many.
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Although the major charges against the officers involved corruption, it was their ties to former intelligence chief and prime minister Khin Nyunt that led to their jailing.
