Coronavirus: Burma releases 25,000 detainees

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Burmese authorities announced on Friday (April 17th) the release of some 25,000 detainees, more than a quarter of the country's prison population, to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in overcrowded prisons. 

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With our correspondent in Rangoon , Sarah Bakaloglou

A presidential pardon "  for the peace and joy of the citizens, while taking into consideration humanitarian concerns  ". These are the words of the press release announcing the release of nearly 25,000 prisoners in Burma.   

In recent weeks, several NGOs have expressed their concerns about the health situation in prisons, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, in the face of prison overcrowding: more than 90,000 people are detained in prisons that cannot accommodate them. as 66,000. And according to a Burmese association, at the end of 2018, only 30 doctors and 80 nurses worked there all over the country.

This announcement of the release of prisoners on Friday, April 17 is therefore a positive step, said the Burmese NGO AAPP. But according to the latter, too few political prisoners are among the pardoned, only 18 of them. The organization therefore called for the release of the 58 others in a country where freedom of expression is regularly threatened.

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• Burma
• Coronavirus