On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Southeast Asian country, “a total of 7,012 prisoners would be pardoned,” said junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun of AFP news agency. However, the junta did not say whether people arrested or detained as a result of the junta’s crackdown on dissidents would be pardoned.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s sentence extended
A few days earlier, de facto Prime Minister Aung San Suu Kyi, who was deposed in the military coup in February 2021, had his jail term extended to 33 years. Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun did not comment on AFP’s inquiry into whether Suu Kyi would be transferred from prison to house arrest as part of the amnesty.
Junta chief turns against foreign powers
During the Independence Day military parade, tanks, rocket launchers and armored vehicles rolled onto a parade ground in the capital Naypyidaw at dawn on Wednesday, AFP journalists noted. State officials and students followed the troops, accompanied by a military band. According to state media, 750 “peace doves” were released to mark the day.
The then British colony of Myanmar 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 the deposed civilian leader Suu Kyi.
Speaking to the soldiers, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing accused unspecified foreign powers of “interfering in Myanmar’s internal affairs” since the February 2021 coup.
relations with Russia
According to Myanmar’s state-run newspaper Global New Light, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent “sincere greetings” on Independence Day, adding that he expected “further development” in relations between the two countries. Moscow is an important ally and arms supplier to the internationally largely isolated junta. The military government had described Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, as “justified”.
New elections in Myanmar
The military government is currently preparing new elections for later this year, which the US has already described as “sham elections”. Observers expect the junta to abolish the previous system of majority voting in advance. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won overwhelmingly in first-past-the-post elections in 2015 and 2020.
The military overthrew the elected government of Suu Kyi in the Southeast Asian country in February 2021 and took power again. Since then, fighting has erupted in large parts of the country between junta forces and rebels opposed to the coup.
Nobel 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 based on the last count of her 18-month trial. The 77-year-old has now been sentenced to a total of 33 years. The EU and the US sharply criticized the verdict.
(AFP)