Myanmar’s military will release over 6,000 local prisoners and deport 52 foreigners in an annual amnesty marking the country’s independence day.
YANGON: Myanmar’s junta announced it will release more than 6,000 prisoners in an annual amnesty marking the country’s independence day.
The military has arrested thousands of protesters and activists since its February 2021 coup.
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has pardoned 6,134 imprisoned Myanmar nationals, the National Defence and Security Council said.
Fifty-two foreign prisoners will also be released and deported, according to a separate statement.
The yearly amnesty is granted “on humanitarian and compassionate grounds” as the country marks 78 years of independence from British colonial rule.
Hundreds of people waited for family members outside Yangon’s notorious Insein prison on Sunday.
“I am waiting for my dad to be released,” said one man who declined to be named due to security concerns.
“He was arrested and imprisoned for doing politics.”
The announcement comes as the junta conducts a phased month-long election which rights advocates condemn as a sham.
The pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) holds a decisive lead in the first phase.
Official results show the USDP has won 90% of the lower house seats announced so far.
The USDP has secured 87 of the 96 lower house seats announced in state media.
Six ethnic minority parties picked up the remaining nine seats.
Winners for six townships are yet to be announced, with two more voting phases scheduled for January 11 and 25.
The dissolved National League for Democracy (NLD) of Aung San Suu Kyi did not appear on ballots.
The military overturned the results of the 2020 poll after the NLD defeated the USDP by a landslide.
The junta alleges massive voter fraud in 2020, a claim international monitors say is unfounded.
Turnout in the first phase last month exceeded 50%, below the 2020 participation rate of around 70%.
A key aide to Aung San Suu Kyi was among hundreds freed in a pre-election amnesty in November.
The junta said that month over 3,000 prisoners would have sentences dropped under post-coup legislation.
