Myanmar's military-backed government released 20 political prisoners Friday, months before it is scheduled to hand over power to an elected pro-democracy party.
"Early this morning, the prison guards called the names of 20 political prisoners and told us to pack up and get ready to go back home," said Soe Zaw, a 44 year-old political prisoner released Friday after fourteen months in prison, "Our families were not informed."
Myanmar is set for a change of government after the National League for Democracy party of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi won an easy majority in last November's general election, dislodging Thein Sein's Union Solidarity and Development party, which was widely considered a proxy for the military.