The military regime said Friday it has freed nearly all the detained members of Aung San Suu Kyi's pro-democracy movement, but the Nobel Peace prize-winning dissident's group said dozens are missing.
A senior government official told the Associated Press that the government has freed 240 of 262 jailed followers of Suu Kyi. Seven still in detention are likely to be charged under security laws that could end in long prison terms, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.But leaders of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy said they know of only 168 who have been freed. About 20 of the 94 not accounted for are believed held in a prison near Rangoon notorious for torture.
The ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council rounded up the opposition members starting May 19 to derail a party congress called by Suu Kyi. The 1991 Nobel Prize-winner herself was freed last July after six years of house arrest for speaking against the 34-year-old military regime.
Nearly all those arrested were delegates to the congress, which was to bring together opposition candidates who won parliamentary elections in 1990 that the ruling council refused to honor.
In a show of defiance, Suu Kyi held the congress anyway with 18 followers who eluded capture.