On Monday evening (local time), the first prisoners, who had been arrested when the generals came to power in early February, left the prison, which is known for its brutal torture methods. Relatives and friends waited for hours in front of the prisons in the Southeast Asian crisis country, many people lay crying in each other’s arms.
According to eyewitnesses, several hundred prisoners had been released by Tuesday morning. Many more are to follow in the course of the day. “Two of my friends were released last night,” Lin Lin, a citizen of Myanmar, told the German Press Agency. “I’ve been waiting in front of Insein Prison since the evening and I’m so happy to see them both.”
According to the AAPP prisoners’ aid organization, more than 9,000 people have been jailed for resisting the junta since the February 1 coup. Currently around 7,300 are said to be in prison. At least 1,181 people were killed. Most recently, the military government ordered a mass amnesty for 2,300 prisoners at the end of June.