Over 3,000 prisoners granted amnesty ahead of Myanmar summit

Myanmar pardoned and began freeing 3,073 prisoners Tuesday in an amnesty that virtually excluded political prisoners despite a presidential pledge to free all such detainees by year’s end.

Most of those released had committed minor crimes, but at least eight were former intelligence officers jailed a decade ago as part of a political purge. The release came a month ahead of a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders to be held in Myanmar.

Publicly, Myanmar’s government used to routinely deny holding any political prisoners, instead characterizing them as common law-breakers. But it grudgingly conceded the point in 2013, when it formed the Political Prisoner Scrutiny Committee comprising former prisoners, politicians and some government officials to review the cases of claimed political detainees.

The Ministry of Information announced the amnesty on its website, saying the prisoners were being freed “on humanitarian grounds.” It did not mention political prisoners.

Counting the number of political prisoners held and released is difficult because of disagreement on how to define them.