Just a few days ago, ousted Prime Minister Aung San Suu Kyi’s prison sentence was extended. Will she be transferred from prison to house arrest as part of the amnesty?
The internationally isolated military junta in Burma announced an amnesty for around 7,000 prisoners on Wednesday. To mark the Southeast Asian country’s 75th anniversary, “a total of 7,012 prisoners would be pardoned,” junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told AFP. However, the junta did not say whether people arrested or detained as a result of the junta’s crackdown on dissent would be pardoned.
A few days earlier, the prison sentence for the de facto Prime Minister Aung San Suu Kyi, deposed in the February 2021 military coup, had been extended to 33 years. Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun did not respond to an AFP inquiry into whether Suu Kyi would be transferred from prison to house arrest as part of the amnesty.
Junta head turns against foreign powers
During the Independence Day military parade, tanks, rocket launchers and armored vehicles entered a military parade in the capital Naypyidaw early on Wednesday, AFP journalists noted. State officials and students accompanied the troops, accompanied by a military band. According to state media, 750 “peace doves” were released to commemorate the day.
The then British colony of Burma declared its independence from the British Crown on January 4, 1948. This was preceded by a long liberation struggle led by General Aung San, father of deposed civilian leader Suu Kyi.
In a speech to soldiers, junta leader Min Aung Hlaing accused unspecified foreign powers of “interfering in Burma’s internal affairs” since the February 2021 coup.
greetings from moscow
According to Myanmar’s state-run Global New Light newspaper, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent “sincere greetings” on Independence Day and added that he hoped for “further development” in relations between the two countries. Moscow is a key ally and arms supplier to the junta, which is largely isolated internationally. The military government described the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, as “justified”.
The military government is currently preparing for new elections planned for later this year, which the US has already described as “mock elections”. Observers hope the junta can abolish the previous majority voting system early. In the first post-office elections, Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won overwhelming majorities in 2015 and 2020.
33 years in prison for 77-year-old Aung San Suu Kyi
The military overthrew Suu Kyi’s elected government in the Southeast Asian country in February 2021 and retook power. Since then, fighting between junta troops and anti-coup rebels has erupted in large parts of the country.
Since then, Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi has been found guilty of all charges against her. On Friday, she was sentenced to an additional seven years in prison in the final count of her 18-month trial. The 77-year-old is now sentenced to a total of 33 years. The EU and US strongly criticized the verdict.
(APA/AFP)