YANGON: Myanmar President Htin Kyaw (pic) signed a pardon for 83 prisoners on the country’s New Year day, his office said in a statement Sunday, though it was not immediately clear if the amnesty included political prisoners.
Htin Kyaw was tapped earlier this year to become the country’s first civilian leader in decades by Aung San Suu Kyi, the veteran democracy activist who still controls the administration but is barred from the presidency by a junta-era charter. Her National League for Democracy (NLD), which is packed full of former political prisoners jailed for their activism under military rule, ended nearly half a century of army domination when they took power in a historic transition in March.