After nearly 16 months behind bars, the former Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC) president Dr Hkalam Samson was released from Kachin State’s Myitkyina prison on Wednesday.
The junta announced the release of 3,303 prisoners to mark Myanmar’s new year on Wednesday and the prominent Christian leader was among them.
It is unclear how many political prisoners were freed but the Political Prisoners Network Myanmar said the numbers were low.
Dr Samson’s lawyer Dong Nang confirmed the release to The Irrawaddy on Wednesday.
The reverend was arrested at Mandalay International Airport by junta troops in December 2022 while he was waiting to fly to Thailand for medical treatment.
In a closed trial, he was sentenced on Good Friday to six years imprisonment on charges of unlawful association, state defamation and terrorism. The charges were widely regarded as politically motivated.
“Pastor Samson’s sentencing is a grave injustice, amplified on the very weekend Christians around the world gather to declare our faith in Jesus,” the Baptist World Alliance said at the time.
Samson had been a high-profile advocate for the rights of ethnic minorities as well as religious freedom in Myanmar.
In 2019, the military’s Northern Command attempted to take legal action against Dr Hkalam Samson for telling then-United States president Donald Trump about the military’s oppression of ethnic minorities in Myanmar. The case was dropped on the orders of military chief Min Aung Hlaing, who now runs the junta.
A family member said: “We couldn’t believe it when we first heard but we are so glad. Praise the Lord. I have shed tears of joy.”
Three members of the National League for Democracy (NLD), Kachin State social affairs minister U Ne Win, Kachin State immigration and population minister U Zaw Win and U Thant Zin Tun, an elected NLD lawmaker from Naypyitaw, were also reportedly released.
The releases are conditional and can be reversed for any reason.
The junta said those who re-offend will serve the remainder of their sentence with an additional penalty.
The junta said remaining prisoners will have their sentences cut by one-sixth, except those convicted under weapons, natural disaster, terrorism, corruption and drug laws, which are commonly used against political prisoners.
Since the coup, the junta has jailed at least 26,500 people, more than 20,300 of whom remain in detention, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
