Myanmar Junta Will Release 5,864 Prisoners Including 180 Foreigners On Independence Day

Myanmar Military Junta Leader Senior Cender, Min Aung Hlaing. (Wikimedia Commons.Mil.ru)

JAKARTA - Myanmar's military government will release 5,864 detainees, including 180 foreigners, under an amnesty marking the independence day of the Southeast Asian nation.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since early 2021, when the military toppled elected civilian rule and suppressed pro-democracy protests with violence, sparking an armed uprising nationwide.

Reported by Reuters on Saturday, January 4, Junta said they would hold elections this year, but the opposition group has widely criticized the plan and is considered a false plan.

Myanmar's military junta has previously reportedly stepped up killings and arrests in an apparent attempt to silence opponents and recruit soldiers in an escalating conflict, with tens of thousands of people detained since the 2021 coup, according to a UN report.

Laporan oleh Komisaris Tinggi PBB untuk Hak Asasi Manusia Volker Turk, yang sebagian berdasarkan pada wawancara jarak jauh dengan ratusan korban dan saksi karena penyelidik ditolak aksesnya, mengatakan sekitar 5,350 warga sipil telah dibunuh oleh militer sejak kudeta.

Of these, 2,414 people died in the period covered by the United Nations report between April 2023 and June 2024, with hundreds of people killed in airstrikes and artillery strikes, meaning a 50 percent increase compared to the previous reporting period, quoted from Reuters, September 18.

The report also revealed a detention scale across the country, with nearly 27,400 people arrested since the coup including more than 9,000 people in the last reporting period. Many are suspected of being in military training centers, he said.

Among those arrested by the authorities were children, the report said, which was taken when their parents could not be found "as a form of punishment for political opposition".