Myanmar junta drops sentences of 3,000 convicted by coup dissent law

Myanmar's junta on Wednesday dropped the sentences of more than 3,000 people convicted under legislation 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 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. The junta said in statements it had amnestied or dropped the sentences of 3,085 convicted under a post-coup amendment punishing comments that "cause fear" or spread "false news" with three years in prison. Nearly 5,600 pending cases have also been shut, the junta's National Defence and Security Council said. Media freedom monitors say the clause was key to crushing Myanmar's vibrant press, which flourished during the country's decade-long democratic thaw. This ended with the toppling of its civilian government. But the junta said the sentences were dropped "to ensure that all eligible voters do not lose their right to vote in the upcoming multi-party democratic general election". Myanmar's elections are due to begin on December 28 and are expected to run through late January. The poll run-up has seen the military wage bloody new offensives against rebel groups and introduce stark new laws punishing protest or criticism of the poll with up to a decade behind bars. While the military has touted the vote as an opportunity for nationwide reconciliation, the kaleidoscope of rebel groups which control huge tracts of Myanmar are set to block it from their territories. The UN's Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) warned Wednesday it was increasingly receiving reports of "serious international crimes committed in Myanmar in the run-up to the elections". Detention of election critics and air strikes to claw back territory ahead of the vote may amount to crimes against humanity, IIMM head Nicholas Koumjian said in a statement.

Myanmar junta drops sentences of 3,000 convicted by coup dissent law

In a statement on the amnesty, the regime cited upcoming elections that the international community has condemned as a sham, with the military imprisoning opponents and allegedly committing international crimes in the run-up to the vote

Subscribe for full access

New limits on movement upend lives, long-held traditions on India-Myanmar border

Fear, mistrust grow as India collects biometrics from Myanmar refugees

Khin Yi’s conflict of interest

Case of Kani schoolteacher and family’s murder still unsolved

Myanmar military closes in on Singu

Resistance officials reiterate rejection of Chinese-brokered terms for northern Shan State, Mogok

‘Utterly inhumane’: Mrauk-U witnesses recount hospital airstrike horror

Dozens killed in Myanmar junta airstrike on hospital in Rakhine State

Silent strike empties streets across Myanmar as public rejects junta’s election

KIA set to fully resume rare earth mining in captured ‘special region’

Myanmar junta airstrikes kill three civilians sheltering in Rakhine State monastery

Myanmar’s factories cling to life as power shortages persist

Bought Out or Seized: Mandalay farmers face impossible choices amid land grab

Myanmar junta partners with Chinese firm to build natural gas terminal despite Rakhine State conflict

Thai officials call on Myanmar regime to crack down on fraud, trafficking gangs on Thai-Karen State border

Myanmar military continues to lose ground to anti-junta forces in northern Shan State

Despite escalating violence, Myanmar junta leader says elections will proceed

NUG-founded bank set to sell shares to meet ‘emergency needs’

Myanmar’s junta bears ‘sole responsibility’ for Suu Kyi’s health—NLD

Karenni youth fight for freedom at the cost of their lives and limbs

The mothers of the Magway resistance

A Myanmar artist finds freedom behind bars—by portraying prisoners’ oppression

As Myanmar’s revolution beckons, a new breed of activist photographers heeds the call

The man behind the Myanmar junta’s campaign of terror in Sagaing

Authorities tighten restrictions on passport process for Myanmar nationals in Thailand

Subscribe for full access

Related Articles