5.1 UNCONDITIONAL RELEASES Many former prisoners of conscience and political prisoners were only released conditionally, meaning that even after their release through pardons or amnesties, they are liable to re-arrest for engaging in peaceful political activities and could be made to serve the remainder of their sentence. Most of those released as a result of prisoner amnesties or pardons had to sign a statement under Section 401 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which provides that: “When any person has been sentenced to punishment for an offence, the President of the Union may at any time, without conditions or upon any conditions which the person sentenced accepts, suspend the execution of his sentence or remit the whole or any part of the punishment to which he has been punished.” Under Section 401(3), if the condition on which a sentence has been suspended or remitted, is, “in the opinion of the President of the Union, not fulfilled”, the President may cancel the suspension or remission, and the released individual can be re-arrested by a police officer without a warrant and made to complete the unexpired portion of his or her sentence. This provision gives the President arbitrary power to reinstate prison sentences and revoke remissions. Any such power should instead lie solely with the judiciary; should be subject to clear safeguards against abusive or discriminatory application; and should have open and transparent appeal mechanisms. While Amnesty International is not aware of individuals who have been re-arrested and forced to serve the remainder of their sentence, the threat remains and the possibility of being taken back into custody can make activists fearful. One human rights defender in Yangon told Amnesty International: “They need to stop conditional releases – activists should be released without any conditions and without the threat of re-arrest. Otherwise, they can do anything to us. We could end up back in jail for 50 or 60 years.”147 One of the necessary steps towards closing the “revolving door” of releases and arrests is to unconditionally release prisoners of conscience and to clear their criminal record. They should not be subject to any conditions which would restrict them from fully exercising their rights or which would penalize them for doing so. 5.2 A FUNCTIONING PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE COMMITTEE On 7 February 2013, President Thein Sein announced the establishment of the Committee for Scrutinizing the Remaining Prisoners of Conscience (Scrutinizing Committee), “to scrutinize the remaining political prisoners serving their terms in prisons throughout the country so as to grant them liberty”.148 According to state media, the Committee would “define the meaning of prisoners of conscience and coordinate for a set of frameworks for releasing and scrutinizing the remaining political prisoners and report the findings to the President.”149 Amnesty International interview, Yangon, June 2015. The New Light of Myanmar, “Committee to be formed to grant liberty to remaining political prisoners,” 7 February 2013, p16. 149 Ibid. 147 148 NEW EXPRESSION MEETS OLD REPRESSION ENDING THE CYCLE OF POLITICAL ARRESTS AND IMPRISONMENT IN MYANMAR Amnesty International 46