Colombo (News 1st); Myanmar authorities have decided to release 12 Sri Lankan fishermen who were detained there.

Kalyani Hewapathirana, the Director of the Fisheries Operation Division of the Ministry of Fisheries speaking to News 1st said the Sri Lankan Mission in Myanmar communicated the decision to Sri Lanka.

The Myanmar Prisons Department had pardoned and freed them from jails under a New Year amnesty program, which took place on Saturday (17).

Earlier, the Sri Lankan government has requested the Myanmar government to release the detained Sri Lankan fishermen and the Director of the Fisheries Operation Division of the Ministry of Fisheries said more information on the release will be available on Monday (19).

Myanmar’s military government said Saturday it released more than 23,000 prisoners in observance of the country’s traditional New Year holiday and that the country’s new junta chief would take his first foreign trip since seizing power.

The Prisons Department said 23,184 prisoners were pardoned and freed from jails across the country under a New Year amnesty program, but few, if any, of the anti-coup activists who were arrested are believed to be among them.

State broadcaster MRTV reported that the junta’s chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, pardoned the prisoners, which included 137 foreigners, who would be deported.

The prisoner release announcement came as daily protests continue against the ouster of the elected government of former de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and the government’s use of deadly force against them.

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