President Thein Sein disclosed that an amnesty program is ready to be granted to 100 prisoners who are still locked up in jail of which 56 are political detainees. These were confirmed by a group who were closely supervising the activities done in the jail, Reuters report said.
The amnesty came after the announcement of the European community to lift all the sanctions against Myanmar except for the arms embargo.
According to Bo Kyi of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, the 56 political prisoners came from five different jails. More than 800 political prisoners were freed in amnesties between May 2011 and last November.
The first amnesty program granted by the government last May 2011 and last November has covered around 800 political prisoners. However, there are still 176 who remained in detention cells.
Patrick Ventrell, a State Department deputy spokesperson in Washington said that they urged the Myanmar government to free all the political prisoners. And they're just glad to learn that about fifty of them were released, the report said. Original source: http://www.betweenonline.com/2013/04/24/myanmar-grants-amnesty-to-100-prisoners/
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