YANGON, 18 April 2021, (TON): Myanmar leadership on Saturday announced it pardoned and released 23,047 prisoners to mark the traditional Thingyan New Year holiday.

The releases were announced on state broadcaster MRTV, which said that General Min Aung Hlaing had pardoned 23,047 prisoners, including 137 foreigners who will be deported from Myanmar. The announcement also reduced sentences for others.

The move comes as good gesture on Thingyan New Year.

Detainees released Saturday from Yangon’s Insein Prison included at least three political prisoners who were jailed in 2019. Those released included members of the Peacock Generation performance troupe who made fun of military representatives in Parliament and military including actors wearing military uniforms during demoralizing and critical performances. Many were found guilty of online defamation for livestreaming objectionable performances. Ross Dunkley, linked with an Australian newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald who was sentenced in 2019 to 13 years in a Myanmar prison for drug possession has also been released. Dunkley co-founded the The Myanmar Times.

Those freed were mostly young people detained on account of violent demonstrations.