The junta-controlled Mon State Supreme Court is gathering information such as offences committed and sentence length from political prisoners in Mon State prisons, according to sources close to the state’s prison’s department.
They also said that this has caused concern amongst political prisoners in the state’s prisons.
One of the sources believes that the Mon State Supreme Court might be collecting the information to review political prisoners’ sentences and potentially increasing them if it is felt they are too lenient.
He said: “This collection of information might be intended for the judges of the Mon State Supreme Court to review the sentences of political prisoners sentenced by the Mawlamyine court. If the Supreme Court deems the sentences too lenient, it could explore options to increase them. The aim may be to prolong the detention of certain political prisoners who are nearing their release. It seems the Supreme Court is examining ways to extend current sentences based on the gathered data.”
A team led by Chief Justice U Nyi Nyi Soe of the Mon State Supreme Court has already visited Mawlamyine Prison, according to a 13 December junta statement.
Than Lwin Times has learned that the team from the Supreme Court focused its enquiries on political prisoners when it visited Mawlamyine Prison.
The reason for this collection of information from political prisoners remains unclear.
In September 2024 the junta collected detailed personal information from all prison inmates throughout the country, both political prisoners and normal prisoners. The information collected included the inmates names, ages, educational backgrounds, and health conditions.
Organisations assisting political prisoners have warned that the data collected from political prisoners by the junta could be used to exploit them or conscript them into the army.
Since the February 2021 coup the junta has arrested approximately 1,200 people in Mon State. Many of those have subsequently been imprisoned on various charges.
