BANGKOK (AP) – Myanmar’s military government has been freeing soldiers and police who had been jailed for desertion and absence without leave, seeking to get them to return to active duty, a police officer and an army officer said on Thursday.
The releases follow an an amnesty plan announced earlier this week to get them back into service in order to ease an apparent manpower shortage.
The plan was an apparent consequence of the military facing the greatest battlefield pressures since it seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021. It began to encounter severe challenges after fierce fighting erupted in late October when an alliance of three ethnic minority armed groups launched an offensive in the northern part of Shan state.
The offensive sparked renewed fighting nationwide on the part of both the pro-democracy Peoples Defense Force and their allies among other ethnic minority armed groups, spreading the military’s forces thin and exposing an evident shortage of troops.
A police captain in the capital, Naypyitaw, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorised to release information, told The Associated Press that many police who were convicted of offences including desertion and absence without leave were released on Thursday, which marked National Victory Day, the anniversary of the 1920 breakout of organised activities against British colonial rule.
It’s traditional to have mass prisoner releases on national holidays.
An army officer in the capital, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the military since last month has been granting amnesty to convicted soldiers and police who were serving prison sentences of up to three years.
