(17 Apr 2024)
RESTRICTIONS SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Yangon, Myanmar – 17 April 2024
1. Wide of entrance to Insein Prison with buses coming out and families of prisoners waiting outside, holding up signs
2. Wide of a bus passing with released prisoners on board
3. Wide of released prisoners getting off bus, being warmly greeted by family and friends
4. Woman embraces released son
5. Wide of released woman, Khin Thu Zar, with friends
6. SOUNDBITE (Burmese) Khin Thu Zar, Released prisoner:
"I’m happy. My family still doesn’t know about my release. I will make a phone call. My family still doesn’t know.”
7. Various of buses coming out, surrounded by people
STORYLINE:
Crowds gathered outside prisons in Myanmar, Wednesday, hoping their loved ones were among the more than 3,000 people granted amnesty by the military authorities to mark this week’s traditional New Year holiday.
The amnesty came as the military said that the country’s jailed former leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been moved to house arrest as a health measure due to a heat wave.
It wasn’t immediately clear how many, if any, of those released included pro-democracy activists and political prisoners who were detained for protesting army rule.
In the commercial capital, Yangon, buses full of those released pulled out from the notorious Insein Prison, making their way slowly through throngs of hopeful onlookers.
There were a number of emotional reunions. One woman, who said she had been held on an incitement charge, was met by friends.
“I’m happy. My family still doesn’t know about my release. I will make a phone call. My family still doesn’t know,” said Khin Thu Zar.
The state-run broadcaster MRTV said that the head of the ruling military council, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, had pardoned 3,303 prisoners, including 28 foreigners who will be deported from Myanmar. He also reduced sentences for others.
Mass amnesties on the holiday are not unusual in Myanmar.
The military seized power from Aung San Suu Kyi’s government in February 2021 following an election in which its own proxy party was roundly defeated for a second successive time.
The move sparked a widespread armed resistance which is steadily gaining ground, recently consigning the army to unprecedented battlefield defeats.
Suu Kyi, 78, and Win Myint, the 72-year-old former president of her ousted government, were among the elderly and infirm prisoners moved from out of prison because of the severe heat, the military’s spokesperson, Maj. Gen. General Zaw Min Tun, told foreign media representatives late Tuesday.
The move has not yet been publicly announced in Myanmar.
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