Almost 25,000 to be freed under Myanmar prisoner amnesty
Apr. 17, 2020
YANGON, Myanmar -- Myanmar announced Friday that it was releasing almost 25,000 prisoners under a presidential amnesty marking this week's traditional New Year celebration. The release for the Thingyan holiday was announced in a statement from President Win Myint's office. Mass amnesties on the holiday are not unusual, though the number this year was the highest in recent memory.
The president’s statement did not say if the release was related to calls to free them because of the hazard of contracting COVID-19 in the close quarters of prison. Myanmar has reported 85 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus, including four deaths, but health experts believe the actual totals are higher.
Human rights groups estimate Myanmar’s overcrowded prisons hold 92,000 people.It wasn’t clear if any political prisoners were among those being released. According to Myanmar’s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, there are 92 political prisoners serving prison terms, and other 124 in detention awaiting trial. The government has said it considers them to simply be lawbreakers rather than political prisoners.
Outside Yangon’s Insein Prison authorities handed out face masks to the waiting crowds as buses full of those to be released passed through the gates. Most of those waiting had no idea if their relatives had been included in the amnesty.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/25000-freed-myanmar-prisoner-amnesty-70202020