The Myanmar government began releasing prisoners on April 17, after President U Win Myint granted amnesty to 9,551 prisoners on the first day of the traditional New Year. Of all pardoned prisoners, 925 were being held in Mon State’s prisons, 363 in Mawlamyine Prison and 43 in Thaton Prison.
“The released prisoners had been convicted for different crimes, but most were drug offenders. These [released prisoners] also included about 100 prisoners given sentence reductions [before Thingyan],” said U Lin Bo Naung, head of Mon State Prison Department.
Nationwide, the pardon has garnered much attention from different groups, including human rights organizations that are calling for more political prisoners to be included in the presidential pardon.
“We hope that all political prisoners will be freed in follow-up pardons,” U Tun Kyi, a member of the Former Political Prisoners’ Society, stated to Frontier Myanmar. While some political prisoners will be released, most remain in jail, including the two Reuters journalists Ko Wa Lone and Ko Kyaw Soe Oo.
In 2018, the President also issued a nationwide pardon to 8,541 prisoners, 589 of which were from Mon State’s jails.
