NLD government officials among political prisoners released in Myanmar amnesty

Sources told DVB that at least three high-ranking officials in the National League for Democracy (NLD) government from 2016-2021 were among the 10,172 prisoners granted a regime amnesty to mark Myanmar’s Peasants’ Day on Monday.

Pro-democracy activist and former political prisoner Mya Aye told DVB that he welcomes the release of a reported 1,895 political prisoners from 15 prisons nationwide, which is based on data compiled by the Political Prisoners Network Myanmar (PPNM).

Many who fought for democracy in Myanmar during the 1988 Uprising, like Mya Aye, want to see jailed State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint released immediately.

Sources confirmed to DVB that Aung San Suu Kyi and Win Myint, who have been held in detention since Feb. 1, 2021, were not freed yesterday.

Aung San Suu Kyi is serving a 27-year sentence, while Win Myint is serving eight years, after both faced a litany of charges by regime courts.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) has documented that at least 22,818 citizens remain in detention for opposing the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021.

NLD party member Myo Aung, who was the Naypyidaw Mayor ousted in the 2021 coup, and Min Thu, a retired general from the Myanmar Air Force who was appointed as Government Office Minister by President Win Myint in 2018, were released from Yamethin Prison in Mandalay Region on March 2, BBC Burmese and Radio Free Asia reported.

Myo Aung was sentenced to 22 years under Section 505(b) for “criminal incitement” and Section 55 of anti-corruption law in 2022. Min Thu was sentenced to eight years and six months for conviction of abuse of power and corruption.

Friends and family members of Moe Moe Su Kyi, the NLD immigration minister in the Yangon Region government, told DVB that she was released from Yangon’s Insein Prison on March 2, where she was serving an eight-year sentence for corruption handed down by a regime court in 2022.

Myo Aung and Moe Moe Su Kyi were arrested during the coup on Feb. 1, 2021. Myo Aung is also an NLD central executive committee member.

A total of 10,172 prisoners, including 7,337 convicted of violating Sections 50(j) and 52(a) of the Counter-Terrorism Law, were included in the March 2 amnesty. DVB is awaiting details of other political prisoners released by the regime.

Sources also confirmed that student activists Su Yee Lin, Htet Paing Soe, and Nway Yati Toe, were also released in the amnesty.

Su Yee Lin was the chairperson of the East Yangon University Students Union, before she was arrested in 2021 and sentenced to three years under Section 505(a) in 2022 and another 10 years under the Counter-Terrorism Law in 2024.

Htet Paing Soe, the deputy chairperson of the Yangon University of Economics Students’ Union, and his associate Nway Yati Toe were freed from Thayarwady Prison in Bago Region, where they were both serving a 10-year sentence under the Counter-Terrorism Law handed down by a regime court in 2023.