YANGON—Myanmar’s junta on Wednesday dropped the sentences of more than 3,000 people who were convicted under legislation that monitors say was wielded to crush post-coup dissent, encouraging them to vote in upcoming polls.
Myanmar’s military seized power in a 2021 coup that sparked a civil war, but it has scheduled elections to start in December and trumpeted them as a return to normalcy for the Southeast Asian nation.
With democratic figurehead Daw Aung San Suu Kyi jailed and her party dissolved, numerous rights monitors and a UN expert have slammed the vote as a ploy to rebrand continuing military rule.
The junta said in statements it had amnestied or dropped the sentences of 3,085 convicted under a post-coup amendment punishing comments that “cause fear” or spread “false news” with three years in prison.
Nearly 5,600 pending cases have also been closed, the junta’s National Defense and Security Council said.
Media freedom monitors say the clause was key to crushing Myanmar’s vibrant press, which flourished during a decade-long democratic thaw that ended with the toppling of the civilian government.
But the junta said the sentences were dropped “to ensure that all eligible voters do not lose their right to vote in the upcoming multi-party democratic general election”.
Myanmar’s elections are due to begin on Dec. 28 and are expected to run through late January.
The poll run-up has seen the military wage bloody new offensives against rebel groups and introduce stark new laws punishing protest or criticism of the poll with up to a decade behind bars.
While the military has touted the vote as an opportunity for nationwide reconciliation, the kaleidoscope of rebel groups that control huge tracts of Myanmar are set to block it from their territories.
The UN’s Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) warned Wednesday it was increasingly receiving reports of “serious international crimes committed in Myanmar in the run-up to the elections”.
Detention of election critics and air strikes to claw back territory ahead of the vote may amount to crimes against humanity, IIMM head Nicholas Koumjian said in a statement.
