256 Arakan State prisoners released in latest junta amnesty

By Admin 01 Aug 2023

DMG Newsroom
1 August 2023, Sittwe

A total of 256 prisoners from Arakan State were among thousands pardoned by Myanmar’s military regime on Tuesday in a mass amnesty to mark the Full Moon Day of Waso, also known as Dhammasetkya Day, according to sources close to the prisons.

The pardoned prisoners — 38 from Sittwe Prison, 49 from Buthidaung Prison, 64 from Kyaukphyu Prison and 105 from Thandwe Prison — were released on August 1, according to prison authorities in Arakan State.

According to a DMG accounting, only one person who was imprisoned in Arakan State for political crimes was among those released on Tuesday. 

“Family members were very happy as my younger brother was released from Sittwe Prison today. I thought he would be released from prison at the end of this year,” said Ko Min Aung, the elder brother of Ko Tin Tun Aung, a resident of Chin State’s Paletwa Township. “I would like to express thanks to the junta for releasing my younger brother. I also want the junta to release those [others] imprisoned for political crimes.”

Ko Tin Tun Aung was arrested on December 28, 2021, after telling the Arakan State-based media outlet Western News that a white flag had been seen flying over a hill where a military battalion was stationed in Paletwa Township. The Paletwa Township Court sentenced Ko Tin Tun Aung to three years in prison with hard labour on April 5, 2022.

There are many people who have been convicted of political offences in various prisons across Arakan State. The junta has been repeatedly criticised for the lack of political prisoners included in several amnesties it has granted since seizing power in a coup on February 1, 2021.

“Some prisoners released in the regime’s mass amnesty were convicted of possession of drugs and other crimes,” said U Myat Tun, a former political prisoner. “As the military regime releases only those who are imprisoned for theft and looting, theft and looting in Arakan State may increase and it may lead to chaos. There are no political prisoners who were imprisoned on suspicion of having ties to the Arakan Army among those released by the regime.”

Myanmar’s military regime said it released 7,749 prisoners in its amnesty marking the Full Moon Day of Waso. Among the prisoners released by the regime were 22 members of ethnic armed organisations and 72 people with links to the armed groups, junta-controlled media reported.

The prisoners were released on condition that if they commit crimes again, they will continue to serve the remaining sentences of their previous crimes in addition to the new punishment, in accordance with Section 401(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.