For Democracy & Human Rights
Web Site of National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma

 

Burma to release thousands of more prisoners

Jan 2 (Reuters) - Myanmar's military junta is to release a further 5,588 prisoners, state media announced on Sunday, bringing the total number of inmates released in recent weeks to almost 20,000.

State television said the latest batch of prisoners were being let free as a "gesture of healing" ahead of Myanmar's Independence Day on Jan 4.

It remains unclear how many, if any, of the latest releases would include political prisoner.

The mass release programme was launched in November, a month after General Khin Nyunt was ousted as prime minister by junta strongman Than Shwe.

At the time of the previous releases, the junta said it was freeing people who had been detained "inappropriately" by the military intelligence apparatus of the disgraced Khin Nyunt.

Two senior pro-democracy leaders jailed in 1995 for distributing anti-government pamphlets were amongst those freed in December in the last round of releases.

However, the country's most famous dissident, Aung San Suu Kyi, remains under house arrest and Than Shwe is believed to be keen to ignore the Nobel Peace Laureate.

Right groups have called for increased international pressure on Yangon, which has confined Suu Kyi to her lakeside villa for much of the past 15 years,cutting off her phone and restricting visitors.

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