Those pardoned Thursday include eight former senior military intelligence officers who since 2004 have been serving jail terms of 80 years or more, said members of their families.
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More than 150 Chinese nationals, who had been sentenced to life in jail on charges of illegal logging, were among the 6,966 freed.
China lodged a diplomatic protest and expressed “extreme” concern about the verdict against its citizens, 153 of whom were given life sentences.
Jia Duqiang, an expert on Southeast Asian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the severe sentences may serve as a warning to those considering business deals with Myanmar’s ethnic groups, as such arrangements may not be sanctioned by the country’s authorities.
The arrests were part of a raid that included the seizure of 240 timber logs, 455 vehicles, nine motorcycles, opium, methamphetamines, 12,000 Chinese yuan (US$1920) and documents apparently issued by the Kachin Independence Army that appeared to permit logging activities.
Christmas is coming early for almost 7,000 prisoners in Myanmar, which is also known as Burma.
Around 11 political prisoners, including several journalists, were included in the release, activist groups helping the prisoners’ families said, though scores may still remain behind bars. China’s Foreign Ministry confirmed the loggers had been released and said they would return home on Friday.
About half a dozen other former military-intelligence officials were released late last year in a similar amnesty.
Under the terms of the amnesty, all 210 foreign prisoners will be deported from today, “with a view to maintaining friendship and ties with related countries”. Past governments have released political prisoners as a way of assuaging criticism from overseas.
More should now be freed, Aung Moe Kyaw of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said. One of them is former Brig.
Prisoners who were released from prison with Myanmar President’s pardons walk out Insein Prison, Thursday, July 30, 2015, in Yangon, Myanmar.
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Among the military-intelligence officers released was Than Tun, a former brigadier general, and Tin Htut, son-in-law of the former prime minister and head of military intelligence Khin Nyunt.
