Myanmar releases thousands of prisoners to mark Independence Day

BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s military government has released more than 6,000 prisoners and has reduced other inmates’ sentences as part of a mass amnesty marking the 77th anniversary of independence from Britain on Saturday.

They included just a small proportion of hundreds of political detainees jailed for opposing army rule since the military seized power in February 2021 from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. That takeover was met with massive nonviolent resistance, which has since become a widespread armed struggle.

State-run MRTV television reported that Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the military government, granted amnesties covering 5,864 prisoners from Myanmar, as well as 180 foreigners who will be deported. Mass prisoner releases are common on holidays and other significant occasions in Myanmar.

The terms of release warn that if the freed detainees violate the law again, they will have to serve the remainder of their original sentences in addition to any new sentence.

In a separate report, it said Min Aung Hlaing had commuted the life sentences of 144 prisoners to 15 years' imprisonment. The report provided no details about them.

The report also said that all other prisoners will have their sentences reduced by one sixth, except those convicted under the Explosive Substances Act, the Unlawful Associations Act, the Arms Act and the Counterterrorism Law, all laws which are often used against opponents of military rule.

Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, the spokesperson for the military government, said in an audio note to journalists that those being released included about 600 prisoners who were prosecuted under Section 505(A) of Myanmar’s penal code, which makes it a crime to spread comments that create public unrest or fear or spread false news.

He said Khet Aung, a former chief minister of the southern Kachin state, was among those freed. Khet Aung was arrested soon after the army takeover and was sentenced in April 2022 to 12 years in prison on corruption charges.

Zaw Min Tun also said most of the freed foreigners are Thais who were arrested for gambling in the border town of Tachileik in eastern Myanmar. He said Indonesians who were arrested for fishing in Myanmar’s territorial waters were also among those freed.

He did not mention whether four Thai fishermen, who were arrested by Myanmar’s navy in late November after patrol boats opened fire on Thai fishing vessels in waters close to their maritime border in the Andaman Sea, were among the released. Thailand’s prime minister had said she expects the four to be released on Independence Day.

Prisoner releases began on Saturday but can take a few days to be completed. In the country’s largest city, Yangon, buses took prisoners out of Insein Prison, where friends and families of detainees had waited since morning for the announced releases, at around 11:30 a.m.

There was no sign that the prisoner release would include Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been held virtually incommunicado by the military since its seizure of power.

The 79-year-old Suu Kyi is serving a 27-year sentence after being convicted in a series of politically tinged prosecutions brought by the military.

Her supporters and independent analysts say the cases against her are an attempt to discredit her and legitimize the military’s seizure of power while keeping her from taking part in the military’s promised election, for which no date has yet been set.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a rights monitoring organization, 28,096 people have been arrested on political charges since the army takeover.

Of those arrested, 21,499 were still in detention as of Friday, the AAPP reported. At least 6,106 civilians have been killed by security forces in the same period, the group says. Its tally does not include all casualties from combat.

Myanmar became a British colony in the late 19th century and regained its independence on Jan. 4, 1948.

In the capital Naypyitaw, Myanmar’s military government celebrated the anniversary with a flag-raising ceremony at City Hall.

Released prisoners, in a bus, are welcomed by family members and colleagues after they left Insein Prison Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, in Yangon, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

Released prisoners are welcomed by family members and colleagues outside Insein Prison Saturday, Jan. 4 , 2025, in Yangon, Myanmar, as the military government has released more than 6,000 prisoners and has reduced other inmates’ sentences as part of a mass amnesty to mark the 77th anniversary of independence from Britain. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

Released prisoners, in a bus, are welcomed by family members and colleagues after they left Insein Prison Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, in Yangon, Myanmar, as the military government has released more than 6,000 prisoners and has reduced other inmates’ sentences as part of a mass amnesty to mark the 77th anniversary of independence from Britain. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

Released prisoners, in a bus, are welcomed by family members and colleagues after they left Insein Prison Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, in Yangon, Myanmar, as the military government has released more than 6,000 prisoners and has reduced other inmates’ sentences as part of a mass amnesty to mark the 77th anniversary of independence from Britain.(AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

Released prisoners, in a bus, are welcomed by family members and colleagues after they left Insein Prison Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, in Yangon, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

Released prisoners are welcomed by family members and colleagues outside Insein Prison Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, in Yangon, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

Family members wait to welcome released prisoners from Insein Prison Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, in Yangon, Myanmar, as the military government has released more than 6,000 prisoners and has reduced other inmates’ sentences as part of a mass amnesty to mark the 77th anniversary of independence from Britain. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

Released prisoners, front center and right, are welcomed by family members and colleagues outside Insein Prison Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, in Yangon, Myanmar, as the military government has released more than 6,000 prisoners and has reduced other inmates’ sentences as part of a mass amnesty to mark the 77th anniversary of independence from Britain. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s anti-corruption agency has requested that police take over efforts to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol after its investigators failed to bring him to custody following a standoff with the presidential security service last week.

The agency and police confirmed the discussion on Monday, hours before the one-week warrant for Yoon’s detention was to expire.

The Seoul Western District Court last Tuesday issued a warrant to detain Yoon and a separate warrant to search his residence after the embattled president defied authorities by refusing to appear for questioning over his short-lived martial law decree on Dec. 3. But executing those warrants is complicated as long as Yoon remains in his official residence.

Yoon has described his power grab as a necessary act of governance against a liberal opposition bogging down his agenda with its legislative majority and has vowed to “fight to the end” against efforts to oust him. While martial law lasted only several hours, it set off turmoil that has shaken the country’s politics, diplomacy and financial markets for weeks and exposed the fragility of South Korea’s democracy while society is deeply polarized.

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials will likely seek a new court warrant to extend the window for Yoon’s detention, according to police, which said it was internally reviewing the agency’s request. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the anti-corruption agency will make another attempt to detain Yoon on Monday before the deadline expires at midnight.

The anti-corruption agency has faced questions about its competence after failing to detain Yoon on Friday, and police have the resources to possibly make a more forceful attempt to detain him.

Yoon’s legal team claimed in a statement that the agency’s move to delegate execution of the detainment warrant to police is illegal, saying there’s no legal grounds for it to delegate certain parts of an investigation process to another agency. Yoon’s lawyers had submitted an objection to the warrants against the president on Thursday, but the Seoul Western District Court dismissed the challenge on Sunday.

Yoon’s lawyers also on Monday filed complaints with public prosecutors against the anti-corruption agency’s chief prosecutor, Oh Dong-woon, and six other anti-corruption and police officers for orchestrating Friday’s detainment attempt, which they claim was illegal.

The lawyers also filed complaints against the country’s acting national police chief, the acting defense minister and two Seoul police officials for ignoring the presidential security service’s request to provide additional forces to block the detention attempt. The lawyers said they also plan to file complaints against some 150 anti-corruption and police investigators who were involved in Friday’s detention attempt.

The anti-corruption agency, which leads a joint investigation with police and military investigators, has been weighing charges of rebellion after Yoon declared martial law and dispatched troops to surround the National Assembly. Lawmakers who managed to get past the blockade voted to lift martial law hours later.

Yoon’s presidential powers were suspended after the opposition-dominated National Assembly voted to impeach him on Dec. 14, accusing him of rebellion, and his fate now lies with the Constitutional Court, which has begun deliberations on whether to formally remove Yoon from office or reinstate him.

Dozens of anti-corruption agency investigators and assisting police officers attempted to detain Yoon on Friday but retreated from his residence in Seoul after a tense standoff with the presidential security service that lasted more than five hours.

After getting around a military unit guarding the residence’s grounds, the agency’s investigators and police were able to approach within 200 meters (about 218 yards) of Yoon’s residential building but were stopped by a barricade comprising around 10 vehicles and approximately 200 members of the presidential security forces and troops. The agency said it wasn’t able to visually confirm whether Yoon was inside the residence.

The agency has urged the country’s acting leader, Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, to instruct the presidential security service to comply with their execution of the detainment warrant. Choi has yet to publicly comment on the issue.

In a video message on Sunday, Park Jong-joon, chief of the presidential security service, hit back against criticism that his organization has become Yoon’s private army, saying it has legal obligations to protect the incumbent president. Park said he instructed his members to not use violence during Friday’s standoff and called for the anti-corruption agency and police to change their approach.

Park and his deputy defied summonses on Saturday from police, who planned to question them over the suspected obstruction of official duty following Friday’s events. Staff from the presidential security service were seen installing barbed wire near the gate and along the hills leading up to Yoon’s residence over the weekend, possibly in preparation for another detention attempt.

Yoon’s lawyers argued the detention and search warrants against the president cannot be enforced at his residence due to a law that protects locations potentially linked to military secrets from search without the consent of the person in charge — which would be Yoon. They also argue the anti-corruption office lacks the legal authority to investigate rebellion charges.

Hundreds of South Koreans rallied near Yoon’s residence for hours into early Monday, wrapping themselves in silver-coated mats against the freezing temperatures. It was their second consecutive night of protests, with demonstrators calling for his ouster and arrest.

Protesters demanding the arrest of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol attend a rally near the presidential residence in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A protester blows a vuvuzela during a rally demanding the arrest of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol near the presidential residence in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. The letters read "Arrest Yoon Suk Yeol." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol attend a rally to oppose his impeachment near the presidential residence in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Protesters demanding the arrest of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol attend a rally near the presidential residence in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. The letters read "Arrest Yoon Suk Yeol." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Protesters stage a rally demanding the arrest of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol near the presidential residence in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. The letters read "Arrest Yoon Suk Yeol." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Protesters wait for a rally demanding the arrest of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol near the presidential residence in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol attend a rally to oppose his impeachment near the presidential residence in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol stage a rally to oppose his impeachment near the presidential residence in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol stage a rally to oppose his impeachment near the presidential residence in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol attend a rally to oppose his impeachment near the presidential residence in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A supporter of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shouts slogans during a rally to oppose his impeachment near the presidential residence in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)