Myanmar’s President Thein Sein on Thursday released nearly 7,000 political prisoners on a presidential pardon, including more than 200 foreigners and former military-intelligence officers, according to officials.
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There are speculations that several imprisoned former Myanmar officials – including military intelligence staff and politicians – are among the group recently freed.
Thirteen of those released were prisoners of conscience, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), which said it was still checking names to confirm if more had been freed.
The pardons, effective from Thursday, were timed to coincide with a Buddhist religious holiday and come ahead of a November general election.
An inmate (centre) is reunited with his family.
China’s official news agency Xinhua reported that the amnesty also included 155 Chinese citizens who received life sentences for illegal logging in Kachin State. But Win Naing Lynn, head of the prison in Myitkyina where the Chinese loggers were being held on charges of illegal logging, said that all of them had been released “in accordance with the amnesty, and the friendship between China and Myanmar”.
Their arrests came amid a crackdown by Myanmar authorities in Kachin state aimed at stemming an illegal cross border trade in timber that is feeding voracious Chinese demand for raw materials.
Prisoners who were released from prison with Myanmar President’s pardons walk out Insein Prison, Thursday, July 30, 2015, in Yangon, Myanmar.
On July 22, the Chinese loggers were sentenced for violating Myanmar’s law against destroying public properties.
Myanmar’s Information Ministry explained that the presidential pardon for the prisoners was made “on humanitarian grounds and is in view of national reconciliation”. Their jail terms drew much ire in China, which is a top ally of Myanmar. Chinese economic penetration is big and highly visible in northern Burma, and some large infrastructure and mining projects have drawn charges of being insensitive to environmental issues and local residents’ concerns.
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Those pardoned included eight former senior military-intelligence officers who since 2004 have been serving jail terms of 80 years or more, said members of their families.
