Myanmar’s military authorities have pardoned or dropped charges against 8,665 detainees held for opposing army rule, state media reported on Thursday, in a move widely seen as election-related political manoeuvring.

The junta said the decision would allow more people to vote in the December 28 elections, a process global rights groups have already condemned as a sham amid ongoing conflict, suppression of dissent and the absence of free media.

According to the announcement, sentences were reduced for 3,085 people convicted of offences linked to “causing fear or spreading fake news”, while charges against 5,580 others still in hiding were also scrapped. Authorities did not clarify how many political detainees are included or when the full releases will take place.

A prison official at Yangon’s Insein Prison, speaking anonymously to AP, said releases would begin immediately but provided no names or figures. In previous amnesties, such rollouts have taken days.

The military seized power in a 2021 coup, plunging the country into civil war. Despite the turmoil, the regime has promoted the upcoming polls as a return to stability. Critics argue the opposite — that the elections cannot be free or fair when opposition leaders remain jailed and the main political party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), has been dismantled.

Uncertainty also remains over the fate of Aung San Suu Kyi, the 80-year-old former civilian leader serving a 27-year sentence in near-total isolation. The junta did not specify whether she is among those eligible for release.

Among those freed on Thursday was Kyi Toe, former NLD information committee chief, who had been imprisoned since 2021. In a brief interview after his release, he avoided political remarks but vowed “to be strong to work together” with Suu Kyi, who remains detained in Naypyidaw.

Human rights advocate Mark Farmaner of Burma Campaign UK called the releases “wonderful news for the prisoners” but criticised the junta for using them as public relations tools to create a “fake narrative of reform”.

As of Wednesday, 22,708 political prisoners, including Suu Kyi, remained behind bars, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

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