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Myanmar released almost 5,000 prisoners for its Buddhist New Year’s amnesty, including 13 foreigners, on Thursday, the junta announced on state-owned broadcaster MRTV.
But prominent political detainees – such as former State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi – remain behind bars or under house arrest. Suu Kyi has been held incommunicado since the early days of the 2021 coup, with her exact whereabouts still unknown.
Other key figures from Suu Kyi’s ousted government, many of whom face politically motivated charges, were also excluded from this year’s amnesty.
The junta’s annual amnesty is widely seen as a calculated political tool rather than a gesture of goodwill. By releasing select prisoners, the regime aims to project an image of leniency and normalcy to the international community. At the same time, it maintains tight control by excluding prominent political detainees and opposition figures, reinforcing its grip on power while attempting to deflect criticism over its ongoing human rights abuses.
“Many of those released were due to be freed in a few months anyway. These lists are compiled selectively to meet political goals,” said a Yangon-based lawyer, who declined to be named for security reasons, suggesting the amnesty was designed to serve strategic interests.
The junta also announced that some prisoners would have their sentences reduced to one-sixth, but explicitly excluded those convicted under a range of laws commonly used to target political opponents and resistance fighters. These include terrorism and unlawful association charges, as well as laws concerning explosives and firearms.
A political analyst, who also asked to remain unnamed with security concerns, noted that such exclusions disproportionately affect members of the pro-democracy movement, ethnic armed groups, and former National League for Democracy officials – effectively preserving the regime’s grip on its most vocal critics.
Several former politicians under the NLD, have died shortly after being released from prison, with their family members saying that they were denied healthcare for chronic conditions. Although junta leaders often grant amnesty to prisoners on public holidays, many are re-arrested just days later.
In some prisons, no political detainees were released at all, the advocacy group Political Prisoners Network Myanmar said in a statement Thursday.
The junta has been widely criticized for arresting citizens en masse for protests against its 2021 coup, speaking out against politicians online and other charges activists have claimed are trumped up and done through sham court trials. Similarly, the junta has arrested hundreds of members of the former civilian NLD administration ousted in the coup.
From 2021 to April 11, 2025, more than 22,100 people have been charged by the junta and of them, more than 10,700 have been sentenced, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by Taejun Kang.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Burmese.