A statement released by Myanmar's junta on Wednesday (May 3) revealed that it had pardoned 2,153 prisoners. The statement mentioned that they were jailed under a law that criminalises encouraging dissent against the military and carries a maximum three-year jail term. Junta has used the same law to crack down on dissent since it seized power in February 2021.

The junta in a statement noted that the military pardoned "2,153 prisoners serving sentences under Penal Code 505 (a) to mark Kasone Full Moon Day".&nbsp;

The statement said that the military ordered the pardons "for the peaceful mind of the people and on humanitarian grounds" and further added that those who re-offend will have to serve the remainder of their sentence. There will be an additional penalty.&nbsp;

The Myanmar junta seized power in the country on February 1, 2021, through a coup. India, in view of the cross-border issues, has retained ties with the junta-led South Asian nation. However, many countries have condemned the junta and called for a return to democracy.&nbsp;

After seizing power and ousting Aung San Suu Kyi's government, more than 21,000 people have been arrested. The crisis has plunged the country into turmoil, according to a local monitoring group. The United Nations stated that at least 170 journalists have been arrested.&nbsp;

Suu Kyi is still in jail since she was detained in the early hours of the coup. Last year in December, the junta wrapped up a series of trials and jailed her for a total of 33 years.&nbsp;

Apart from the arrest, the monitoring group claimed that more than 3,400 people have been killed in the military's crackdown on dissent since the coup.&nbsp;

The junta has been accused of committing human rights abuses, including violence against peaceful protesters, arbitrary detentions, and the use of lethal force against civilians.&nbsp;

<h2>Chinese minister visits Myanmar</h2>

The latest decision about pardoning the prisoners comes as the Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang is visiting Myanmar for talks with the internationally isolated generals and met junta chief Min Aung Hlaing. Qin became the highest-profile Chinese official to meet the top general since the coup.&nbsp;

According to the Chinese foreign ministry, Qin said, "China advocates that the international community should respect Myanmar's sovereignty and play a constructive role in helping it achieve peace and reconciliation." Recently, several Beijing-backed infrastructure projects are slated to run through northern Myanmar and link China's landlocked Yunnan province with the Indian Ocean.&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)&nbsp; 
 
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A statement released by Myanmar's junta on Wednesday (May 3) revealed that it had pardoned 2,153 prisoners. The statement mentioned that they were jailed under a law that criminalises encouraging dissent against the military and carries a maximum three-year jail term.

A statement released by Myanmar's junta on Wednesday (May 3) revealed that it had pardoned 2,153 prisoners. The statement mentioned that they were jailed under a law that criminalises encouraging dissent against the military and carries a maximum three-year jail term. Junta has used the same law to crack down on dissent since it seized power in February 2021. The junta in a statement noted that the military pardoned "2,153 prisoners serving sentences under Penal Code 505 (a) to mark Kasone Full Moon Day". The statement said that the military ordered the pardons "for the peaceful mind of the people and on humanitarian grounds" and further added that those who re-offend will have to serve the remainder of their sentence. There will be an additional penalty. The Myanmar junta seized power in the country on February 1, 2021, through a coup. India, in view of the cross-border issues, has retained ties with the junta-led South Asian nation. However, many countries have condemned the junta and called for a return to democracy. After seizing power and ousting Aung San Suu Kyi's government, more than 21,000 people have been arrested. The crisis has plunged the country into turmoil, according to a local monitoring group. The United Nations stated that at least 170 journalists have been arrested. Suu Kyi is still in jail since she was detained in the early hours of the coup. Last year in December, the junta wrapped up a series of trials and jailed her for a total of 33 years. Apart from the arrest, the monitoring group claimed that more than 3,400 people have been killed in the military's crackdown on dissent since the coup. The junta has been accused of committing human rights abuses, including violence against peaceful protesters, arbitrary detentions, and the use of lethal force against civilians. Chinese minister visits Myanmar The latest decision about pardoning the prisoners comes as the Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang is visiting Myanmar for talks with the internationally isolated generals and met junta chief Min Aung Hlaing. Qin became the highest-profile Chinese official to meet the top general since the coup. According to the Chinese foreign ministry, Qin said, "China advocates that the international community should respect Myanmar's sovereignty and play a constructive role in helping it achieve peace and reconciliation." Recently, several Beijing-backed infrastructure projects are slated to run through northern Myanmar and link China's landlocked Yunnan province with the Indian Ocean. (With inputs from agencies) WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

Myanmar junta pardons 2,153 prisoners jailed for dissent against military

Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina on Friday granted a pardon to a man who spent more than 24 years in prison for murder before a judge vacated his conviction in 2019, finding that a key witness had “entirely made up” her testimony.

The pardon for the man, Montoyae Dontae Sharpe, clears the way for him to seek compensation from the state and comes after prominent pastors and others had demonstrated outside the governor’s mansion in support of Sharpe.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Sharpe, 46, of Charlotte, said in an interview Friday. “My name has been cleared, and me and my family can move on. And I can go on with the next stage of my life, which is to still help other guys behind me.”

In 1995, Sharpe was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of George Radcliffe, who was found fatally shot in his pickup truck in Greenville, North Carolina, on Feb. 11, 1994.

During the trial, Charlene Johnson, who was 15, testified that she saw Sharpe, who is Black, shoot Radcliffe, who was white, in a face-to-face altercation over a drug deal, according to one of Sharpe’s lawyers, Theresa A. Newman, who was a co-director of the Wrongful Convictions Clinic at Duke University School of Law.

Johnson testified that Sharpe and another man then put Radcliffe into the truck, crashed it into a vacant lot and threw away the key, Newman said.

Johnson recanted her testimony weeks later, and Sharpe’s efforts to overturn his conviction worked their way through the courts until 2019, when a Superior Court judge in Pitt County, North Carolina, held two evidentiary hearings that destroyed the case.

After the second hearing, on Aug. 22, 2019, the judge, G. Bryan Collins Jr., found that if the case were tried again, Johnson would testify that “she was not present at the time of the shooting and that her trial testimony was entirely made up based on what she saw on television and what investigators told her.”

Collins also found that the medical examiner who had testified at the trial, Dr. Mary Gilliland, learned of Johnson’s testimony only “well after the trial was over.” If Gilliland were called to testify at a retrial, the judge found, she would testify that Johnson’s initial description of the shooting was “medically and scientifically impossible.”

Radcliffe had been shot in the arm, and Johnson’s description of a face-to-face confrontation “didn’t line up with the trajectory of the bullet through the body,” Newman said.

Collins vacated Sharpe’s conviction, released him from prison and granted his motion for a new trial.

That same day, the Pitt County District Attorney’s Office dismissed the murder charge against Sharpe and refused to retry the case on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.

Sharpe then spent the next two years fighting for a pardon, Newman said, before Cooper granted it Friday.

“I have carefully reviewed Montoyae Dontae Sharpe’s case and am granting him a Pardon of Innocence,” Cooper, a Democrat, said in a statement. “Mr. Sharpe and others who have been wrongly convicted deserve to have that injustice fully and publicly acknowledged.”

Newman said the pardon would allow Sharpe to petition the state for compensation of $50,000 for each year of wrongful imprisonment up to $750,000 — the most Sharpe could receive for the 24 years he spent in prison.

Sharpe said he had been sustained throughout the decades by his faith in God, his lawyers, the pastors who supported him and his mother, who gave him the strength to resist pressure from prosecutors to accept plea deals that could have resulted in his release from prison.

“If it weren’t for them, it would have been bad,” Sharpe said. “I would have still been in there, most likely.”

At a rally outside the governor’s mansion on Friday, the Rev. William J. Barber II, a North Carolina pastor, celebrated the “tremendous, tremendous news” of Sharpe’s pardon and asked those in attendance to think of all those who fought for Sharpe throughout the years.

“This was a family victory,” Barber said, adding that Sharpe deserved special praise.

“He has more courage than any man that has ever sat in that governor’s office — or woman — and more courage than anybody that’s ever sat in the state Legislature,” Barber said.

Sharpe said he hoped to use his pardon to fight for others who have been wrongfully convicted and are seeking to clear their names.

“I know there are more cases out there like mine because the system isn’t perfect,” he said. “We can change the system and my case is just a steppingstone for me to step out and help change the system.”

Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina on Friday granted a pardon to a man who spent more than 24 years in prison for murder before a judge vacated his conviction in 2019, finding that a key witness had “entirely made up” her testimony.

Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina on Friday granted a pardon to a man who spent more than 24 years in prison for murder before a judge vacated his conviction in 2019, finding that a key witness had “entirely made up” her testimony. The pardon for the man, Montoyae Dontae Sharpe, clears the way for him to seek compensation from the state and comes after prominent pastors and others had demonstrated outside the governor’s mansion in support of Sharpe. “It’s been a long time coming,” Sharpe, 46, of Charlotte, said in an interview Friday. “My name has been cleared, and me and my family can move on. And I can go on with the next stage of my life, which is to still help other guys behind me.” In 1995, Sharpe was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of George Radcliffe, who was found fatally shot in his pickup truck in Greenville, North Carolina, on Feb. 11, 1994. During the trial, Charlene Johnson, who was 15, testified that she saw Sharpe, who is Black, shoot Radcliffe, who was white, in a face-to-face altercation over a drug deal, according to one of Sharpe’s lawyers, Theresa A. Newman, who was a co-director of the Wrongful Convictions Clinic at Duke University School of Law. Johnson testified that Sharpe and another man then put Radcliffe into the truck, crashed it into a vacant lot and threw away the key, Newman said. Johnson recanted her testimony weeks later, and Sharpe’s efforts to overturn his conviction worked their way through the courts until 2019, when a Superior Court judge in Pitt County, North Carolina, held two evidentiary hearings that destroyed the case. After the second hearing, on Aug. 22, 2019, the judge, G. Bryan Collins Jr., found that if the case were tried again, Johnson would testify that “she was not present at the time of the shooting and that her trial testimony was entirely made up based on what she saw on television and what investigators told her.” Collins also found that the medical examiner who had testified at the trial, Dr. Mary Gilliland, learned of Johnson’s testimony only “well after the trial was over.” If Gilliland were called to testify at a retrial, the judge found, she would testify that Johnson’s initial description of the shooting was “medically and scientifically impossible.” Radcliffe had been shot in the arm, and Johnson’s description of a face-to-face confrontation “didn’t line up with the trajectory of the bullet through the body,” Newman said. Collins vacated Sharpe’s conviction, released him from prison and granted his motion for a new trial. That same day, the Pitt County District Attorney’s Office dismissed the murder charge against Sharpe and refused to retry the case on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. Sharpe then spent the next two years fighting for a pardon, Newman said, before Cooper granted it Friday. “I have carefully reviewed Montoyae Dontae Sharpe’s case and am granting him a Pardon of Innocence,” Cooper, a Democrat, said in a statement. “Mr. Sharpe and others who have been wrongly convicted deserve to have that injustice fully and publicly acknowledged.” Newman said the pardon would allow Sharpe to petition the state for compensation of $50,000 for each year of wrongful imprisonment up to $750,000 — the most Sharpe could receive for the 24 years he spent in prison. Sharpe said he had been sustained throughout the decades by his faith in God, his lawyers, the pastors who supported him and his mother, who gave him the strength to resist pressure from prosecutors to accept plea deals that could have resulted in his release from prison. “If it weren’t for them, it would have been bad,” Sharpe said. “I would have still been in there, most likely.” At a rally outside the governor’s mansion on Friday, the Rev. William J. Barber II, a North Carolina pastor, celebrated the “tremendous, tremendous news” of Sharpe’s pardon and asked those in attendance to think of all those who fought for Sharpe throughout the years. “This was a family victory,” Barber said, adding that Sharpe deserved special praise. “He has more courage than any man that has ever sat in that governor’s office — or woman — and more courage than anybody that’s ever sat in the state Legislature,” Barber said. Sharpe said he hoped to use his pardon to fight for others who have been wrongfully convicted and are seeking to clear their names. “I know there are more cases out there like mine because the system isn’t perfect,” he said. “We can change the system and my case is just a steppingstone for me to step out and help change the system.”

Man pardoned after spending 24 years in prison for murder

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