155 Chinese jailed in Myanmar for illegal logging set free by amnesty
Print Edition
MYANMAR yesterday released 155 Chinese nationals, who were last week jailed for illegal logging in a mass amnesty that also freed several political prisoners.
Authorities ordered the release of 6,966 detainees, including 210 foreigners, the Ministry of Information said on its website.
The move hoped to promote “goodwill and is aimed at keeping a friendly relationship between countries,” it said.
All of the 155 Chinese nationals given prison sentences for illegal logging in northern Myanmar near the China border have been freed, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in a statement.
“Myanmar informed China this morning that they will transfer the above-mentioned persons tomorrow,” the statement said, adding that there had been “intense communication” between the two nations over the loggers.
In Yangon, crowds of anxious relatives thronged the gates of the city’s notorious Insein prison where there were tearful reunions with loved ones.
Five imprisoned journalists were among 13 political prisoners set free, according to a tally by the activist group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which monitors dissidents held in Myanmar’s jails.
The former junta-run nation kept about 2,000 political prisoners jailed until the current quasi-civilian government began quashing their sentences as part of sporadic amnesties.
The Chinese loggers were arrested in January during a crackdown on illegal forestry activities in the war-torn northern state of Kachin, where both military and rebel forces are accused of profiting from the exploitation of the area’s rich natural resources.
A court official in Kachin said earlier this month that 153 loggers were handed life sentences — usually equivalent to 20 years — while two males aged under 18 were jailed for 10 years.
One of Thein Sein’s first major acts as president was to halt construction of the huge Myitsone dam in Kachin after his government replaced outright military rule.
Earlier this year, Beijing issued a rebuke to its neighbor after a Myanmar plane dropped a bomb in Chinese territory as fighting between government troops and ethnic Chinese Kokang rebels spilled across the border, leaving five Chinese nationals dead.
Thein Sein’s government has been rewarded for a string of reforms — including welcoming Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition party into parliament — with most Western sanctions removed.
The five reporters freed yesterday were jailed in October for “state defamation” over an account of a protest in Yangon, in Bi Mon Te Nay journal, that mistakenly said Suu Kyi would form an interim government.
“I will continue working in journalism in the future,” journalist Min Wathan said after his release from Insein prison.
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