Myanmar army chief ordered the release of seven soldiers who got lengthy prison sentence for involving in the murder of 10 Rohingya men the western Rakhine state, a military spokesman admitted, according to local media.
Reuters in an exclusive story published on Monday said that Myanmar has granted early release to the jailed soldiers in November last year, after serving less than a year of their10-year prison terms for the Rohingya massacre in Rakhine state in late 2017.
However, senior officials from military-controlled Home Affairs Ministry said the same day that had no knowledge of the release despite its Prison Department confirmed that soldiers are no longer in the prison.
On Wednesday, a military spokesman admitted that military chief Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing pardoned soldiers involved in the Rohingya killing, the Irrawaddy local news outlet reported.
"They were released last November after a group of people including monks submitted a petition to Commander-in-Chief Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing," Brigadier Gen. Zaw Min Tun was quoted by the report as saying.
He said the military chief reduced term in prison to one year from 10 years with hard labor in accordance with the military justice.
"That's why they were released last November. The military acted according to the laws," said Zaw Min Tun.
The early release of the soldiers who committed the killings meant that they served less jail time than the journalists who uncovered the massacre.
Two Myanmar-based Reuters journalists, Wa Lone an Kyaw Soe Oo, were handed a seven-year imprisonment each for breaching a colonial-era State Secret Act while investigating the Rohingya massacre in Rakhine state in late 2017.
After being placed behind bars for more than 16 months, the two were released in on May 6 under a pardon by Myanmar President Win Myint.
