The Myanmar military pardoned more than 3,300 prisoners on Wednesday to mark Thingyan, the country’s traditional Buddhist New Year.
The junta announced in a statement that 3,303 prisoners across the country would be pardoned on the condition that they do not repeat the same crime.
Some observers suggest that the regime chose to release this exact number of prisoners because it ascribes special significance to the number nine—the sum of its digits.
At the time of reporting, it was not known if any of the prisoners had yet been released.
It was also unclear how many political prisoners would be among the inmates set to be released.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a local monitoring group, more than 20,000 political prisoners have been held in prisons across Myanmar since the February 2021 military coup.
Military spokesperson Zaw Min Tun also told. . .
Your first month FREE this December
Get unlimited access to high-quality reporting from the frontlines and support independent journalism.
Already a subscriber? Log in
