Veteran activist Mya Aye and other prominent junta critics released as part of mass amnesty

Veteran democracy activist Mya Aye, who has been in junta custody since the military seized power in February of last year, was among nearly 5,800 prisoners pardoned in a mass amnesty on Thursday. He was released from Yangon’s Insein Prison along with several other detainees on Thursday afternoon.

A regime-controlled court sentenced the prominent ‘88 generation student leader to two years in prison in March under Section 505c of the Penal Code for “inciting hate towards an ethnicity or a community.” He was handed the sentence on his 56th birthday.

“I will always be with the people of Myanmar,” he told reporters gathered outside the prison upon his release.

Several others arrested on the day of the February 2021 coup were also freed on Thursday, including two senior members of the ousted ruling party, the National League for Democracy—party spokesperson Dr. Myo Nyunt and legal advisor Kyaw Ho.

Satirist Maung Thar Cho and junta critic Ven. Pyinya Thiha—a senior monk better known as Shwe Nya Wah Sayadaw—were among the other notable figures released after more than 21 months in detention.

A total of 143 prisoners were due to be released from prisons in Mandalay Region, including 14 from Obo Prison. Several sources confirmed that those released from prisons across the country include a number of journalists held for incitement.

Four foreign nationals—Australian economist Sean Turnell, former UK diplomat Vicky Bowman, Japanese documentary filmmaker Toru Kubota, and American botanist Kyaw Htay Oo—were also among those freed. The military said the four would be deported upon their release. Details are still unknown.

Also granted amnesty were the ousted minister of the State Counsellor’s Office Kyaw Tint Swe and former Tanintharyi Region chief minister Le Le Maw, who had been sentenced before the coup to 30 years behind bars for corruption.

Meanwhile, filmmaker Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi, another longtime critic of the military, was released on Tuesday after completing a two-year sentence. However, singer Saw Phoe Khwar was re-arrested on the same day and sent to Taungoo Prison in Bago Region after another charge was filed against him. Further details were not available at the time of reporting.