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Myanmar junta will release 6,000 prisoners, including four foreigners in amnesty: Report
Former British ambassador Vicky Bowman, Australian economics adviser Sean Turnell and Japanese journalist Toru Kubota "will be released to mark National Day," a senior officer told AFP.
Myanmar's junta said Thursday it will release 6000 prisoners, including a former British ambassador, a Japanese journalist and an Australian adviser to Aung San Suu Kyi's ousted government.
"Altogether, 5,774 prisoners including some 600 women prisoners will be released," they said, revising an earlier figure of about 700. In its statement announcing the amnesty, the junta's information team did not say how many of those pardoned had been arrested during the military's crackdown on dissent.
Former British envoy Vicky Bowman, Australian economics adviser Sean Turnell and Japanese journalist Toru Kubota "will be released to mark National Day", a senior officer told AFP.
Bowman, who served as ambassador from 2002 to 2006, was detained with her husband in August for failing to declare she was living at an address different from the one listed on her foreigner's registration certificate.
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They were later jailed for one year. Her husband, prominent artist Htein Lin, will also be released, the official said. Sean Turnell was working as an adviser to Myanmar's civilian leader Suu Kyi when he was detained shortly after the coup in February last year.
Kubota, 26, was detained in July near an anti-government rally in Yangon along with two Myanmar citizens and jailed for 10 years. A source at Japan's embassy in Myanmar told AFP they had "been informed that Mr. Kubota will be released today" by junta authorities.
In September, he and Suu Kyi were convicted by a closed junta court of breaching the official secrets act and jailed for three years each. Kubota, 26, was detained in July near an anti-government rally in Yangon along with two Myanmar citizens and jailed for 10 years.
Families gathered outside Insein prison in Yangon ahead of the expected announcement, an AFP reporter said.
