Independence Day amnesty frees 6,186 prisoners
Sources close to Yangon’s Insein Prison told DVB that 850 were among a total of 6,186 prisoners released from prisons across the country on Sunday in an amnesty to mark Burma’s 78th Independence Day. The sources added that the only political prisoner freed was Ye Htut, a former minister serving a 10-year sentence at Insein Prison for criticizing the military on social media in October 2023.
Sources told DVB that State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, who have been held incommunicado since the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021, were not released in this amnesty. Aung San Suu Kyi is serving a 27-year sentence, while Win Myint is serving eight, after both faced a litany of charges by regime courts. DVB is awaiting confirmation if any political prisoners are among the over 6,000 released nationwide.
DVB has recorded a total of 106,810 prisoners released in amnesties since Feb. 12, 2021, not including the Jan. 4 amnesty. At least 8,882 of those freed were deemed political prisoners, according to DVB data. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) has documented the arrest of 30,216 people for political reasons since the 2021 coup, with 22,682 still in detention. Read more
Malaysia’s ‘year of enforcement’ against Myanmar refugees
In 2025, Malaysia dramatically escalated immigration enforcement with refugees and migrants from Burma saying that uncertainty and fear now dominate their lives. James Bawi Thang Bik, the chairperson of the Alliance for Chin Refugees (ACR), spoke to DVB to discuss the situation faced by refugees from Burma living in Malaysia.
“During these immigration raids I think we, Myanmar people, are more vulnerable to this threat [of arrest and deportation],” James Bawi Thang Bik told DVB. “Whoever gets arrested will be deported back to Myanmar. We fled to Malaysia for safety. Sending us back to Myanmar is like sending us back to death,” he added.
Watch the James Bawi Thang Bik Newsroom interview on DVB English News YouTube or Spotify. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Audible, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, or wherever you get podcasts. Read James Bawi Thang Bik’s latest op-ed for DVB English News. Members of the refugee community from Burma in Malaysia held a protest against the regime’s 2025-26 elections in Kuala Lumpur on Dec. 26. Read more
Preliminary results from Myanmar elections released
The regime’s Union Election Commission (UEC) stated on Saturday that the military-proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) won 88 out of 96 seats in the Pyithu Hluttaw, or lower house of parliament, after a preliminary counting of ballots cast by six million voters in the first phase of the regime’s 2025-26 elections. Polls were held in 102 out of Burma’s 330 townships on Dec. 28.
Htin Kyaw Aye, an independent election analyst, told DVB that regime leader Min Aung Hlaing will appoint himself or one of his loyalists as the president of Burma after the USDP wins the elections. He also criticized the polls for not being “free-and-fair” like the 2020 elections, whose results were overturned by a military coup led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing on Feb. 1, 2021.
The Naga National Party (NNP) won four seats, while the National Unity Party (NUP), the Shan-ni Solidarity Party (SSP), the Shan and Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP), and the Mon Unity Party (MUP), won one seat each in the Pyithu Hluttaw, according to the UEC. The regime stated on Dec. 31 that about 52 percent of the more than 11 million eligible voters cast ballots in the first phase of elections. Read more
News by Region
MANDALAY—The People’s Defence Force (PDF) told DVB that the military is repairing the Yadana Sinkha Bridge, also known as Irrawaddy Bridge, linking Mandalay Region’s Singu Township with Sagaing Region’s Kyaukmyaung Township to facilitate travel between the neighbouring regions.
“Regime forces have positions in Kyaukmyaung. When the bridge is fixed, they can move freely toward Mogok,” a PDF member in Mandalay told DVB, referring to the ruby mining hub which was handed over by the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) to the regime on Nov. 29. Mogok is located 82 miles (132 km) northeast of Kyaukmyaung. Read more
SAGAING—Sources close to the PDF told DVB that the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), along with the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF), has captured nearly all regime outposts in Katha Township, located 223 miles (359 km) north of the region’s capital Monywa.
“The Air Force has been carrying out retaliatory airstrikes throughout the day. The military troops are currently surrounded,” a frontline source told DVB. More than 100,000 residents from Katha and nearby villages have fled their homes due to the fighting. KIA-led resistance forces attacked regime outposts in Katha on Dec. 28.
Residents of Indaw Township told DVB that a 13-year-old was killed and two others were injured in an airstrike on a school in Pegu village carried out by the Burma Air Force on Friday. Indaw, located 209 miles (336 km) north of Monywa, was seized by the KIA and its allied PDF in April.
Indaw residents told DVB that the one killed and the two injured were students from neighboring villages attending the school in Pegu. Their home villages don’t have any schools for children. A school building and two civilian homes were damaged by the airstrike, residents added.
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