The Burmese junta announced on Monday (April 17th) the release of more than 3,000 prisoners on the occasion of the Buddhist New Year, without specifying whether this amnesty applied to those arrested as part of its crackdown on the opposition.

Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing has "pardoned 3,015 detainees to celebrate the Burmese New Year, for the peace of the people, and on humanitarian grounds," said the communications service of the ruling army.

Thousands arrested by dissidents

In the event of a new violation of the law, those released will have to serve the remainder of their sentence with an additional sentence, it said.

The statement did not specify whether opponents of the junta, or journalists jailed for covering the coup, were affected by the amnesty.

Since the February 1, 2021 coup that overthrew elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the military has arrested thousands of dissidents, carrying out a violent crackdown denounced by rights groups.

Fighting has erupted in several parts of Burma between the junta and its armed opponents – both anti-coup fighters, and ethnic groups that have been fighting it for years.

About 170 people were killed in an airstrike in a village in the central region of Sagaing on Tuesday, with the junta justifying the attack by the presence of many rebels at the scene.

The silence of Burma's big cities

In response to the massacre, which provoked new reactions of international outrage, several major Burmese cities remained silent during the Buddhist New Year festivities, usually marked by large water battles in the streets.

More than 21,000 people have been arrested since the coup, according to a local NGO. The junta's crackdown involved at least 170 journalists, according to the United Nations.

Aung San Suu Kyi, 77, remains in detention in the capital Naypyidaw, where she is serving a 33-year prison sentence on a litany of charges deemed political by human rights groups.

They had challenged the amnesty of nearly 23,000 detainees shortly after the military took power, a decision they said was aimed at making room in prisons for opponents of the junta and creating chaos in communities.

With AFP

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