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Myanmar’s junta announces it will release more than 7,000 prisoners for the 75th anniversary of independence

Myanmar's junta announces it will release more than 7,000 prisoners for the 75th anniversary of independence

4 Jan. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Burmese military junta has announced this Wednesday that it will release more than 7,000 inmates on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the country’s independence, after which local media have pointed to the release of several politicians detained as a result of the coup d’état in February 2021.

The State Planning and Administration Council has published a decree that contemplates that 7,012 prisoners will be released in the next few hours, with the warning that they will have to serve the rest of the sentence in case they are arrested again for any crime or crime, according to the Burmese state television channel MRTV.

According to the Burmese news portal Mizzima News, Zara Aung Ko, who was Minister of Religion and Culture during the government of the country’s ‘de facto’ leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and Zan Myint Aung, and Zan Myint Aung, were released early in the day. who was a member of the Rangoon region municipal committee.

Aung Ko was sentenced in March 2022 to twelve years in prison for corruption, while Myint Aung was sentenced in December 2021 to three years in prison for demanding the dissolution of the military junta established after the coup, perpetrated by the Army. to annul the results of the November 2020 general elections, in which the National League for Democracy (NLD) won the parliamentary majority.

The coup was followed by a harsh campaign of repression against opponents, activists and protesters that to date has resulted in nearly 2,700 deaths and more than 16,800 detainees –including more than 13,350 who remain in custody–, according to published data. by the Association for the Assistance of Political Prisoners (AAPP) through its Twitter account.

The initial protests against the coup d’état have led to the formation of armed resistance groups and the reinforcement of the ethnic militias already present in the country before the coup, which has led to an upsurge in fighting in various parts of the country. , especially in the north.

In this context, at least 42 soldiers and pro-government militiamen have been killed in attacks carried out in recent days by the Popular Defense Forces (PDF), including around 30 in an attack carried out on Tuesday against a military camp in the Sagaing region, according to the Burmese newspaper ‘The Irrawaddy’.

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