Junta set to release over 6,000 prisoners in annual amnesty

Myanmar's junta said yesterday it would release more than 6,000 prisoners as part of an annual amnesty to mark the country's Independence Day.

- 

Relatives celebrate with a man after he was released during an annual amnesty to mark Myanmar's independence day outside Insein prison in Yangon yesterday. AFP

(AFP)

The military has arrested thousands of protesters and activists since its February 2021 coup ended Myanmar's brief experiment with democracy and plunged the nation into a bloody civil war.

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has pardoned 6,134 imprisoned Myanmar nationals, the National Defence and Security Council said in a statement.

Fifty-two foreign prisoners will also be released and deported, it said in a separate statement.

The annual prisoner amnesty, granted "on humanitarian and compassionate grounds", comes as the country marks 78 years of independence from British colonial rule, according to the council.