Poor prison conditions meant that political prisoners usually relied on family members and friends to bring medicines and food to supplement their meagre supplies. The authorities would often transfer prisoners to prisons in remote areas, robbing them of this important lifeline.16 Former prisoners have told Amnesty International that this tactic was used to try to break their spirit. By 2010, the first year that Myanmar held general elections since 1990, the situation had not improved. Tomás Ojea Quintana, the then UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Myanmar noted: “[t]he large number of prisoners of conscience in Myanmar demonstrates the abrogation of the fundamental rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association.”17 PRESIDENT THEIN SEIN RENEGES ON HIS PROMISES “I guarantee to you that by the end of this year, there will be no prisoners of conscience in Myanmar.” President Thein Sein, speaking at Chatham House, London, 15 July 2013. In 2011, a quasi-civilian government under the leadership of President Thein Sein came to power following widely criticized general elections in November 2010. Many feared a continuation of the status quo. Yet, to the surprise of many, the new government, although still heavily backed by the military, quickly set about making a number of key political, economic and social reforms, and began to relax some, but not all, of the restrictions on freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly. Among the changes was the relaxation of restrictions on peaceful protests. In December 2011, Parliament adopted the Peaceful Assembly Act,18 as part of efforts to enable peaceful protests. Whereas once such activities had been severely or else banned outright, they were now permitted in some circumstances. Other measures included the abolition of pre-publication censorship, with media outlets no longer required to submit in advance articles to the country’s Press Scrutiny and Registration Department (PSRD) and the relaxation of visa restrictions for foreign journalists and dissidents in exile. International pressure to free the country’s many prisoners of conscience increased, and in May 2011 President Thein Sein announced a prisoner amnesty in which dozens of political prisoners were released. This was followed five months later in October by a second amnesty, which saw more than 200 political prisoners freed. To date, the authorities have released over 1,100 political detainees 19 as part of 20 prisoner amnesties and pardons.20 Most prisoner releases took place in advance of high-profile events, apparently for maximum political leverage. Amnesty International, Myanmar: A challenge for the international community (Index: ASA 16/ 028/1997), November 1997; and Tomás Ojea Quintana, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Situation of human rights in Myanmar, report to the UN General Assembly, A/64/318, 24 August 2009, para. 25. 17 Tomás Ojea Quintana, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Situation of human rights in Myanmar, report to the UN Human Rights Council, 10 March 2010, A/HRC/13/48, para. 13 18 Which came in to force on 5 July 2012. 19 Tomás Ojea Quintana, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Situation of human rights in Myanmar, report to the UN Human Rights Council, 2 April 2014, A/HRC/25/64, para.4 20 There were two amnesties in 2011 (16 May and 12 October); six in 2012 (4 January, 13 January, 3 July, 17 September, 15 November and 19 November), seven in 2013 (23 April, 17 May, 23 July, 8 October, 15 November, 11 December and 31 December), two in 2014 (3 January and 7 October), two in 2015 (19 January and 30 July), and one in 2016 (22 January). 16 NEW EXPRESSION MEETS OLD REPRESSION ENDING THE CYCLE OF POLITICAL ARRESTS AND IMPRISONMENT IN MYANMAR Amnesty International 13