1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites
In focus
Iran protestsUkraineVenezuela
Latest audioLatest videos
Live TV
PoliticsMyanmar

Myanmar to free thousands of prisoners in annual amnesty

Midhat Fatimah with AFP, Reuters, AP
January 4, 2026

The amnesty comes while Myanmar marks 78 years of indenpendence from Britain and as the junta stages its first election since the 2021 coup.

https://p.dw.com/p/56ILs
A military personnel stands guard while two women and a child walk past in the background
The Mayanmar junta has also reduced prisoners' sentences across the countryImage: Soe Zeya Tun/REUTERS

The Myanmar junta will release more than 6,000 prisoners to mark Independence Day, the state media reported on Sunday.

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has granted amnesty to 6,134 imprisoned Myanmar nationals, the National Defence and Security Council said in a statement.

The amnesty also includes 52 foreigners who will be released and deported from Myanmar.

The junta also commuted the sentences of all prisoners by one-sixth, excluding ⁠those convicted of serious crimes such as murder, rape, terrorism, corruption ‌and arms- or drug-related offenses.

Zin Mar Aung: 'Myanmar's junta losing control'

While the prisoners will be freed, the terms of release warn that if convicted again, they will have to serve the remainder of their original sentences in addition to any new sentence.

The amnesty comes during a monthlong, three-stage election process that critics say is designed to create the impression of legitimacy for the junta's rule.

Fate of political prisoners unknown

Since its 2021 coup, the military junta has arrested thousands of protesters.

It is unclear whether the released prisoners also include political prisoners who protested the junta takeover in 2021.

More than 22,000 political detainees, including former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was ousted in the military takeover in 2021, are held in prisons, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

Myanmar junta to release thousands of prisoners

The mass scale release of prisoners is common on holidays and on special occasions in Myanmar and takes several days to complete.

The annual prisoner amnesty "on humanitarian and compassionate grounds," according to the National Security Council, comes as the country marks 78 years of independence from British colonial rule.

Edited by: Sean Sinico