Oct 19 Reuters - Myanmar's military government has freed hundreds of political prisoners from the local Insein prison, including Aung San Suu Kyi's party spokesperson and a notorious comedian Zarganar, according to the local media.
Minutes after army ruler Min Aung Hlaing's speech on Monday, State Television announced that more than 5,600 people with arrests or wanted over their roles in anti-coup protests would be released in humanitarian ground via an amnesty on state grounds.
The release was described by some activists as a tactic by the ruling military to try rebuild its international reputation after the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ASEAN took the rare step of excluding the junta chairman https: www.reuters.com com World Asia-Pacific asean Chair - brunei confirms junta-leader - not-invited - summit from its summit - 2021 - 10 - 16.
The U.N. Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews on Twitter welcomed the release but said it was outrageous that they were detained in the first place.
The junta is releasing political prisoners in Myanmar not because of a change of heart, but due to pressure, he said.
Since the February coup, the junta has released several prisoners.
ASEAN decided to invite a non-political representative to its Oct 26 – 28 summit, in an unprecedented snub to the military leaders behind the coup against Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government.
They came to me today and told them they will take me home, that is all. Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy NLD Party spokesman Monywa Aung Shin told local media Democratic Voice of Burma late on Monday in his way home from prison.
Monywa Aung Shin was released on February 1 and had spent eight months in prison.
Photos and videos posted on social media showed detainees reunited with weeping family members.
Other images showed a succession of buses leaving the rear entrance of the jail with passengers waving from windows and leaning at crowds gathering outside.
Myanmar's prison department spokesman and the junta spokesman were not immediately available for comment.
More political prisoners including parliamentarians and journalists were released on Monday in others states including Mandalay, Lashio, Meiktila and Myeik.
However, 11 out of 38 people arrested and detained from Meiktila prison in central Burma were released according to local media Democratic Voice of Myanmar.
Reuters could not independently verify this information.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the coup, which ended a decade of tentative democracy and economic reform.
Security forces arrest more than 1,100 people according to activists and the United Nations and killed over 9,000 people including Suu Kyi, according to the rights group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which documents killings and arrests.