Suu Kyi herself spent about 15 years under house arrest.
Anxious families of detained activists rushed to Myanmar prisons, as officials indicated dozens of students could be freed after Aung San Suu Kyi hinted at a mass amnesty for political prisoners.
In her first formal policy pledge since her government took office in the former junta-run nation last week, Suu Kyi said she would prioritise releasing activists – an issue laden with significance for herself and scores of MPs in her party once jailed for activism.
More than 100 prisoners of conscience and students remain locked up in Myanmar, despite reforms in recent years as the military loosened its grip on power after half a century of repressive rule.
Families gathered at prisons in Yangon, the largest city, and in central Tharrawaddy, where students have been detained for more than a year over an education protest that was crushed in March 2015.
Families clutching bunches of flowers also greeted the students as they arrived in a police truck at a nearby courthouse, where officials said they were preparing to free them.
“I have instructed my staff to enable their release as soon as the prosecutor asks to withdraw the case. Our side is ready to proceed,” Kyaw Swar Nyein, district judge in Tharrawady said.
MIX OF CHARGES
Thirty-seven students are detained on a mix of charges, including illegal assembly and rioting.
Another 45 are on bail but facing similar charges.
“I am very excited. I will only believe it when my friends are released,” said 23-year-old student Shwe Kyal Moe, who was injured in the crackdown but freed on bail last year after serving four months in jail.
The routine jailing of dissidents was one of the junta’s most egregious acts, stirring international outcry and support for Suu Kyi’s pro-democracy movement.
Suu Kyi herself spent about 15 years under house arrest and more than 100 current National League for Democracy lawmakers served time in prison.
While the quasi-civilian government that replaced the junta in 2011 freed hundreds of detainees, it also oversaw the detention of more, particularly those involved in land and education protests.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, there are 121 political inmates in Myanmar jails.
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