Myanmar commutes sentences ahead of Independence Day

[News_Editor]

Myanmar commutes sentences ahead of Independence Day

2012-01-04 08:39:35 GMT+7 (ICT)

YANGON (BNO NEWS) -- Burmese President Thein Sein has decided to commute prisoners' sentences ahead of the country's Independence Day, a Burmese news organization in exile reported on Tuesday.

Under the order, death sentences will be commuted to life imprisonment while those serving sentences of more than 30 years will be commuted to 30 years. In addition, sentences between 20 and 30 years will be reduced to 20 years, and sentences under 20 years will be cut by one-fourth.

The order reportedly covers all prisoners who committed crimes before Tuesday. However, many prominent political prisoners who are serving long sentences will not benefit from the order, according to the Mizzima news organization.

A spokesman for pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party said the move falls short of achieving national reconciliation. "Many political prisoners will remain in detention," NLD party spokesman Han Thar Myint said. "It is not satisfactory."

Most recently, Burma, ruled by military regimes since 1962, has been trying to move cautiously toward democracy. Western governments have been pressuring the government to release political prisoners and embark on democratic reforms, but progress has been slow.

Under the new government, two amnesty releases were ordered on May 16 and October 12 of 2011, affecting 14,758 and 6,359 prisoners respectively. The amnesty order in October included only about 200 political prisoners.

Estimates of the number of political prisoners in jail range from around 600 to more than 1,500. Aung San Suu Ky said in November that there were still about 600 political prisoners, according to a survey conducted by NLD.

According to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma, there are at least 1,998 political prisoners in 42 prisons and 109 labor camps across Burma, which is formally known as Myanmar. Late last year, authorities released pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi after years under house arrest.

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