US embassy cable - 02RANGOON1570

C O N F I D E N T I A L RANGOON 001570 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV 
CINCPAC FOR FPA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/04/2012 
TAGS: PHUM, BM, Human Rights, NLD 
SUBJECT: ONLY 75 OF 115 POLITICAL PRISONERS RELEASED 
 
REF: RANGOON 1510 
 
Classified By: COM CARMEN M. MARTINEZ FOR REASON 1.5(D). 
 
1. (C)  On November 19, the State Peace and Development 
Council (SPDC) announced the release of 115 political 
prisoners, and the UN Secretary General immediately welcomed 
the announcement.  As of December 10, however, it appears 
that only 75 of these 115 political prisoners have been 
released.  NLD Secretary U Lwin told Poloff that he could 
account for only 50 NLD members and one student from another 
political party that had been released, and "maybe about 20 
other releases."  The NLD Political Prisoners Support 
Committee (PPSC), which offers legal and financial support to 
families of all political prisoners, can account for only 75 
releases from the 115.  The PPSC said it has verified this 
information with the International Committee for the Red 
Cross. 
 
2.  (C)  Several of the political prisoners released after 
the November 19 announcement told Poloff that they were 
required to sign an agreement accepting the conditions of 
Section 401 of the penal code.  Under this section, the 
prisoners are subject to serving the remainder of their 
current sentences if they are rearrested for any reason.  The 
prisoners reported that some of their fellow prisoners 
refused to sign the 401 agreement and that this may have been 
the reason they were not released.  U Lwin opined that 
political prisoners who are close to the end of their 
sentences are more willing to sign the agreement than those 
who have several years to go.  Those with long sentences do 
not want the fear of an automatic long sentence hanging over 
them, he said.  Others choose not to sign on principle. 
There were some political prisoners released just after talks 
with Aung San Suu Kyi began who were not required to sign the 
Section 401 agreement, but apparently all are now required to 
sign. 
Martinez