Myanmar commutes sentences, but political prisoners not freed

Jan 3, 2012, 3:40 GMT

Yangon - Myanmar commuted sentences for inmates Tuesday but stopped short of freeing hundreds of political prisoners.

The announcement was a disappointment for the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), which called for the release of nearly 600 prisoners of conscience.

'This is just a commuting of sentences, not an amnesty,' NLD spokesman Nyan Win said. 'So political activists such as Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi, who have been sentenced to 65 years in jail, got their sentences commuted to 30 years in prison instead,' he added.

President Thein Sein commuted death sentences to life in prison, set a 30-year maximum on those serving sentences exceeding 30 years, and reduced 30-year sentences to 20 years and anything under 20 years by a quarter of their term.

Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi are two leaders of the 88 Students movement that led protests joined by Buddhist monks in 2007, resulting in an army crackdown that left dozens dead and missing.

The NLD estimated that there are 591 'prisoners of conscience' still in jail. The government on October 12 released 7,500 inmates, including at least 240 known political prisoners.

The exact number of political prisoners is unclear.

The popular estimate of 2,100 was compiled by the Association for Political Prisoners Burma, a group of Myanmar exiles.

A release of all political prisoners, jailed by the junta that ruled between 1988 and 2010, has been a demand of the international community for normalizing relations with the country's government that took office after the November 7, 2010 elections.

The NLD has agreed to contest a by-election on April 1, officially re-entering mainstream politics.

NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi is expected to stand for a vacant seat in Kawhmu township, Yangon, Nyan Win said. If she wins, the Nobel peace laureate is slated to become opposition leader in parliament.