ORDERS OF PARDON: 9,652 PRISONERS AND 114 FOREIGNERS GRANTED AMNESTY
Myanmar International TVJan 04
Myanmar Pardons Thousands of Prisoners to Mark Independence Day
The Facts
Myanmar's governing junta granted amnesty to thousands of prisoners on Thursday to mark the 76th anniversary of independence from Britain, with prisoner releases expected to take several days to complete.
Approximately 9.7K local detainees and 114 foreign inmates are reportedly set to be freed in twelve rounds and sent by bus to districts in the Yangon region.
The Spin
Narrative B
Make no mistake, this amnesty is merely a PR stunt to try to ease internal and international pressure. The vast majority of those freed are convicted drug criminals, not dissidents who have long been tortured. Out of the few political prisoners pardoned — none of which were high-profile figures — most had coincidentally nearly completed their terms.
Nerd narrative
There's a 50% chance that Myanmar will no longer be classified as being in a state of civil war by October 2028, according to the Metaculus prediction community.