MELBOURNE: An Australian adviser to the former government of Myanmar returned home on Friday, a day after he was released from detention by the military junta as part of a mass amnesty.
The plane carrying Sean Turnell, an economist who had worked with former state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, touched down in Melbourne just before noon on Friday, according to the state broadcaster ABC. Turnell had travelled from Myanmar to Bangkok before boarding an overnight flight to Australia.
Turnell was arrested a few days after the army seized power from the elected government in February last year, ending a decade of tentative democracy. In September, he was sentenced to three years prison for violating the official secrets act and immigration law, charges he denied.
“His return will be an enormous relief to his family, friends and many supporters in Australia and across the region,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a statement on Friday.
“The Australian government remains deeply concerned about the deteriorating situation in Myanmar, and we will continue to advocate for the release of the remaining political prisoners.”
Turnell was among almost 6,000 prisoners released to mark Myanmar’s national day on Thursday. Others included former British ambassador Vicky Bowman, Japanese filmmaker Toru Kubota and US citizen Kyaw Htay Oo.
Turnell’s wife Ha Vu said she was “over the moon and speechless” in a post on social media.
“When Sean was asked by a Myanmar official upon his departure ‘do you hate Myanmar now?’,” wrote Ha Vu.
“Sean said ‘I never hate Myanmar, I love the people of Myanmar, and it’s always like that.’”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who is in Bangkok for the Apec summit, spoke with Turnell on Thursday and said “he was in amazingly good spirits”. He also thanked the prime ministers of Cambodia and Thailand for urging the military junta to release Turnell.
Kubota returned to Japan on a commercial flight on Friday after his release.
Kubota was detained on July 30 while filming an anti-coup protest in Yangon and sentenced by a military-controlled court to 10 years in prison for sedition, among other crimes.
“I’m feeling a sense of gratitude I can’t describe for being released this early even though I was sentenced to 10 years in prison,” Kubota told reporters at Haneda airport after arriving via Thailand.
Kubota said he had his own cell and was not mistreated, but the 10-year prison term had “weighed heavily” on him.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said the Japanese government had confirmed Kubota has no health issues.
Myanmar did not engage in any political bargaining with other countries before releasing the four foreign prisoners, junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said at a briefing on Friday.
