Myanmar’s military junta freed hundreds of prisoners on Sunday in an annual Independence Day amnesty, including a former government minister and a prominent model, as the country moves forward with a phased election that critics say is designed to entrench military rule.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported that buses carrying released detainees left Insein Prison in Yangon, where families waited outside holding placards bearing the names of jailed relatives.
Some waved as the buses passed, while others searched the crowd for loved ones.
One man, who declined to be named because of security concerns, told AFP he was hoping to see his father, imprisoned for “doing politics.”
Among those released was Ye Htut, a former information minister who had served more than two years of a 10-year sentence for sedition and incitement against the military.
“I was informed about my release early this morning. I didn’t expect that,” Ye Htut told AFP. He said he had been held in isolation and barred from family visits during his detention.
Ye Htut previously served as presidential spokesman under former president Thein Sein, whose military-backed government transferred power to democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi after the 2015 elections.
He was sentenced in late 2023, weeks after his arrest for allegedly spreading “wrong information” on social media.
The National Defence and Security Council said junta leader Min Aung Hlaing pardoned 6,134 Myanmar nationals.
The council said 52 foreign prisoners would also be released and deported. The amnesty coincided with the country’s commemoration of 78 years of independence from British colonial rule.
Outside the prison, scenes of reunion unfolded as several freed detainees embraced relatives in tears. Some told AFP they had been jailed for non-political offenses such as drugs or theft.
“I am very happy to reunite with my family,” said Yazar Tun, 35, who said he served about eight months of a one-year sentence for loitering.
AFP also reported the release of model and former doctor Nang Mwe San, who was arrested in 2022 on a charge of “harming culture and dignity” for posting allegedly explicit videos online.
The prisoner releases come as Myanmar’s junta presses ahead with a month-long election that began last week.
Military leaders say the vote will restore democracy and national reconciliation, but rights advocates and Western diplomats have condemned it as a sham.
State media reported that the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party has won 90 percent of the lower house seats announced so far in the first phase of voting.
Analysts often describe the party as a civilian proxy for the military. Two further voting phases are scheduled for Jan. 11 and Jan. 25.
The dissolved National League for Democracy, led by Suu Kyi, did not appear on the ballots, and she has remained jailed since the 2021 coup.
The military overturned the NLD’s landslide victory in the 2020 election, alleging widespread voter fraud, claims international monitors have said were unfounded.
The junta has said turnout in the first phase exceeded 50 percent of eligible voters, below the roughly 70 percent participation rate recorded in 2020.
Myanmar routinely grants large-scale amnesties to mark national holidays or Buddhist festivals. In November, authorities announced sentence reductions for more than 3,000 prisoners prosecuted under post-coup laws restricting free speech, days before the current election process began.
