Mass prisoner releases are common on major holidays. The spokesman of Myanmar’s Prison Department, Khin Shwe, told The Associated Press that those released were mostly drug offenders and common criminals, and that he was unaware if any political prisoners were among them.
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July 1, 2021 Share
Myanmar’s government began releasing about 2,300 prisoners on Wednesday, including activists who were detained for protesting against the military’s seizure of power in February and journalists who reported on the protests, officials said.
Buses took prisoners out of Yangon’s Insein Prison, where friends and families of detainees had waited since morning for the announced releases. It is standard practice to take freed prisoners to the police stations where they were originally booked to complete the processing for their freedom.
Zaw Zaw, head of the Yangon Region’s Prison Department, confirmed that more than 720 people were released from the prison, which for decades has been the main facility for political prisoners.