Burma: from life sentence to freedom in one week

GlobalPost

Since Myanmar's government is attempting to end its decades-old conflicts, I wrote last week, it seemed counter-productive that authorities recently sentenced a key rebel leader to life in prison.

Turns out the man charged with "high treason" -- a senior leader named Nyein Maung with the armed Karen ethnic group -- is already free under a presidential decree, according to the AP.

In last week's post, I reasoned that the leader's immediate release "would posit the leader of Burma's reform bonanza -- President Thein Sein -- as a compassionate voice of reason and perhaps help nudge the negotiations forward. It's a good cop, bad cop routine."

It will be interesting to see if this judicial about-face nudges forward peace talks to end the world's longest-running civil war.

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