Myanmar Junta Amnesties 3,000 Convicted Under Coup Dissent Law

YANGON—Myanmar’s junta on Wednesday dropped the sentences of more than 3,000 people who were convicted under legislation that monitors say was wielded to crush post-coup dissent, encouraging them to vote in upcoming polls.

Myanmar’s military seized power in a 2021 coup that sparked a civil war, but it has scheduled elections to start in December and trumpeted them as a return to normalcy for the Southeast Asian nation.

With democratic figurehead Daw Aung San Suu Kyi jailed and her party dissolved, numerous rights monitors and a UN expert have slammed the vote as a ploy to rebrand continuing military rule.