Sunday, April 10, 2016 6:42:23 PM
Myanmar court frees student activists after Aung San Suu Kyi pledge
Updated Fri at 11:08pm
Photo: A student protester is reunited with family after his release in Tharrawaddy town.
(AFP: Ye Aung Thu)
Related Story: Myanmar's Suu Kyi presses for political prisoner release
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-08/myanmar's-suu-kyi-vows-to-press-for-political-prisoner-release/7309462
Related Story: Why is Aung San Suu Kyi barred from becoming president of Myanmar?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-10/myanmar-election-explained/6928542
Map: Burma .. http://www.google.com/maps/place/Burma/@22,98,5z
A Myanmar court has freed dozens of jailed students, in the first wave of detainee releases after Aung San Suu Kyi pledged that the release of activists .. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-08/myanmar's-suu-kyi-vows-to-press-for-political-prisoner-release/7309462 .. and political prisoners would be the first priority of her new government.
Key points:
* Prosecution of students who participated in education protest has been ended
* Anxious families of detained activists rush to Myanmar prisons
* Aung San Suu Kyi has not set timeline for releasing imprisoned activists
There were jubilant scenes at the central Myanmar courthouse in Tharrawaddy, as a judge told activists they could go home more than a year after they were arrested over their education protest that was crushed in a violent police crackdown .. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-11/myanmar-police-clash-students-protest-letpadan/6298176 .. in March 2015.
"You 69 are all freed now (from this case) without charge," township judge Chit Myat said.
Two other student protesters were deemed too young to be prosecuted, however three of the 69 face further hearings in other courts.
Ms Suu Kyi said Thursday her government would prioritise freeing activists, without giving a timeline for their release.
The statement was not followed by an official amnesty notice from President Htin Kyaw, but families still crowded at prison gates around the country hoping to reunite with their loved ones.
Those gathered in Tharrawaddy's dusty courtroom erupted into cheers and song after the judge delivered his statement, while dozens of police looked on.
Tearful parents gripped their children in emotional scenes before hurrying to the nearby prison to collect the detainees' belongings.
Some students stopped at a cemetery to pay their respects to the graves of other activists who died in the country's decades-long democracy struggle.
"Our release showed that we didn't commit any crime, we suffered in prison for more than one year," Ei Thinzar Maung, 20, said after her release.
"We are happy but we want the new government to release all political prisoners immediately," she added.
Photo: Political student protesters and family members shout and cheer after their release.
(AFP: Ye Aung Thu)
Hundreds of detained activists await trial
Myanmar has scores of political prisoners languishing in its jails and hundreds of detained activists awaiting trial, despite reforms in recent years as the military loosened its grip on power after half a century of repressive junta rule.
Court officials said they began preparing to release the students shortly after Ms Suu Kyi's statement, which said her government would try to free detainees still on trial by asking the state prosecutor to drop the charges.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) welcomed the students' release, but urged Ms Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party to amend the laws used to imprison peaceful protesters.
"They have to release political prisoners but they also have to do away with these rights-abusing laws," HRW's deputy Asia director Phil Robertson said.
The NLD has an absolute majority in both houses of the national assembly, they can do this."
The routine jailing of dissidents by the former junta stirred international outcry and support for Ms Suu Kyi's pro-democracy movement.
Ms Suu Kyi herself spent about 15 years under house arrest and more than 100 current National League for Democracy MPs served time in the country's notorious prisons.
While the quasi-civilian government that replaced the junta in 2011 freed hundreds of political detainees, it also oversaw the detention of many more, particularly those involved in land and education protests.
Photo: Relatives check lists of prisoners due for release at Insein prison in Yangon.
(AFP: Romeo Gacad)
AFP
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-08/families-flock-to-myanmar-jails-after-amnesty-plan/7312444
Updated Fri at 11:08pm
Photo: A student protester is reunited with family after his release in Tharrawaddy town.
(AFP: Ye Aung Thu)
Related Story: Myanmar's Suu Kyi presses for political prisoner release
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-08/myanmar's-suu-kyi-vows-to-press-for-political-prisoner-release/7309462
Related Story: Why is Aung San Suu Kyi barred from becoming president of Myanmar?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-10/myanmar-election-explained/6928542
Map: Burma .. http://www.google.com/maps/place/Burma/@22,98,5z
A Myanmar court has freed dozens of jailed students, in the first wave of detainee releases after Aung San Suu Kyi pledged that the release of activists .. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-08/myanmar's-suu-kyi-vows-to-press-for-political-prisoner-release/7309462 .. and political prisoners would be the first priority of her new government.
Key points:
* Prosecution of students who participated in education protest has been ended
* Anxious families of detained activists rush to Myanmar prisons
* Aung San Suu Kyi has not set timeline for releasing imprisoned activists
There were jubilant scenes at the central Myanmar courthouse in Tharrawaddy, as a judge told activists they could go home more than a year after they were arrested over their education protest that was crushed in a violent police crackdown .. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-11/myanmar-police-clash-students-protest-letpadan/6298176 .. in March 2015.
"You 69 are all freed now (from this case) without charge," township judge Chit Myat said.
Two other student protesters were deemed too young to be prosecuted, however three of the 69 face further hearings in other courts.
Ms Suu Kyi said Thursday her government would prioritise freeing activists, without giving a timeline for their release.
The statement was not followed by an official amnesty notice from President Htin Kyaw, but families still crowded at prison gates around the country hoping to reunite with their loved ones.
Those gathered in Tharrawaddy's dusty courtroom erupted into cheers and song after the judge delivered his statement, while dozens of police looked on.
Tearful parents gripped their children in emotional scenes before hurrying to the nearby prison to collect the detainees' belongings.
Some students stopped at a cemetery to pay their respects to the graves of other activists who died in the country's decades-long democracy struggle.
"Our release showed that we didn't commit any crime, we suffered in prison for more than one year," Ei Thinzar Maung, 20, said after her release.
"We are happy but we want the new government to release all political prisoners immediately," she added.
Photo: Political student protesters and family members shout and cheer after their release.
(AFP: Ye Aung Thu)
Hundreds of detained activists await trial
Myanmar has scores of political prisoners languishing in its jails and hundreds of detained activists awaiting trial, despite reforms in recent years as the military loosened its grip on power after half a century of repressive junta rule.
Court officials said they began preparing to release the students shortly after Ms Suu Kyi's statement, which said her government would try to free detainees still on trial by asking the state prosecutor to drop the charges.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) welcomed the students' release, but urged Ms Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party to amend the laws used to imprison peaceful protesters.
"They have to release political prisoners but they also have to do away with these rights-abusing laws," HRW's deputy Asia director Phil Robertson said.
The NLD has an absolute majority in both houses of the national assembly, they can do this."
The routine jailing of dissidents by the former junta stirred international outcry and support for Ms Suu Kyi's pro-democracy movement.
Ms Suu Kyi herself spent about 15 years under house arrest and more than 100 current National League for Democracy MPs served time in the country's notorious prisons.
While the quasi-civilian government that replaced the junta in 2011 freed hundreds of political detainees, it also oversaw the detention of many more, particularly those involved in land and education protests.
Photo: Relatives check lists of prisoners due for release at Insein prison in Yangon.
(AFP: Romeo Gacad)
AFP
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-08/families-flock-to-myanmar-jails-after-amnesty-plan/7312444
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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