A Myanmar court has freed dozens of jailed students, in the first wave of detainee releases, after Aung San Suu Kyi hinted at a mass amnesty for political prisoners.

Suu Kyi, a newly-appointed Myanmar State Counselor, pledged that the release of activists and political prisoners would be the first priority of her new government on Thursday. Suu Kyi herself spent about 15 years under house arrest, while more than 100 current lawmakers from the National League for Democracy party have served time in the country's prisons.