Some 23,314 prisoners will be pardoned and released on Union Day as a national public holiday of the country’s unification, General Min Aung Hlaing said in a statement. It is not clear what crimes the prisoners have been convicted of.
While the release of mass prisoners on national holidays is common in Myanmar, this is the first general amnesty from the new junta that seized power on November 1 by ousting democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and detaining key government officials.
Claiming widespread voting irregularities in the November 2020 elections, the military did justice to the country’s takeover of the country, which saw Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy Party (NLD) win a second consecutive victory.
In a statement Friday, the Auxiliary Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) expressed “serious concern” that the amnesty was “a clear space for the detention of political prisoners.”
The military statement said that in addition to releasing prisoners serving sentences for crimes committed before January 31, 2021, their sentences would also be reduced.
Minang Healing said in his address that the amnesty was part of an effort to build a “democratic country with branches.”
There is no indication that Suu Kyi or other government ministers or officials detained in the authority will be released as part of the amnesty. The amnesty is unlikely to quell opponents’ anger at the military generals.
Protests and civil disobedience campaigns continued in towns and cities across the country on Friday. The videos and live streams posted online showed many groups marching in the city of Yangon, including medical workers and soccer fans.
Large gatherings are also expected at the United States, Chinese and British embassies in Yangon.
The rallies have so far been largely peaceful but have been recorded using police water cannons against protesters. Police have also faced allegations of conducting live rounds.
A young woman named Maya Thoye Twey Khain was in critical condition at a hospital in the capital Naypyidaw on Friday morning, with a bullet wound to the head, a source with direct information about the victim told CNN.
An online video of the incident showed a young woman suddenly falling to the ground while protesting with a water cannon.
Experts from the rights group Amnesty International’s Crisis Evidence Lab said they took close-up photos of a protest in Naypyidaw on February 9, showing a police officer locally using a Uzi sub-machine gun.
The rights group said the images were taken from a location near the Thabayagon roundabout where the young woman was shot in the head.
Amnesty said it had checked the compilation of the image, which “shows an official with a BA-94 or BA-93 Uz Uz Zi clone made by Myanmar.” CNN could not verify the image independently.
Amnesty said the protest was in direct contradiction with the army’s claim that no lethal weapons were used during the protests.
On February 10, Myanmar’s military posted on its Facebook page that it had used only anti-riot weapons in a protest near the Thabayagon roundabout and was investigating reports that two protesters had been injured.
“The young woman was seriously injured by Myanmar police firing live ammunition directly at peaceful protesters,” said Sam Dubberle, head of Amnesty International’s Emergency Evidence Lab, in a press release.
Maya Theve Thawe Tha Khain has since become a symbol of protest, as protesters marched when their footprints were erected.
On Thursday, Min Aung Hlaing issued a warning to protesters, including a large section of society, including monks and a growing number of public activists, urging them to return to work.
“Those who are away from their duties are urged to return to their duties immediately without focusing on feeling for the interest of the country and the people,” he said.
In a statement issued by the official information service of the ruling army, Minung Helaing blamed the recent absence of government employees on harassment by “Bayez individuals”.
In response to the ongoing protests, the country’s military has sought to limit sought access to the Internet and news services, as well as floating possible new cybersecurity laws that could limit the flow of information to observers out of fear.
On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden announced that the United States would move forward with sanctions against Myanmar’s military leaders after last week’s coup.
In a brief remark, the president said he would not allow the U.S. Has approved a new executive order allowing “immediate rebel-directed military leaders, their business interests as well as close family members.” He said he would identify the targets of those sanctions this week.
Biden also called on the military to release detained protesters and civilian leaders, including Suu Kyi and Win Myint, and to end their crackdown on protesters.
CNN’s Helen Regg contributed to the report.
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