Prisoners Pardoned by Nyusi Walk Free

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Prisoners Pardoned by Nyusi Walk Free

9:10 CAT | 27 Dec 2018

Prisoners - AIM

The Mozambican authorities on Monday released 1,498 prisoners who had been serving sentences in jails across the country.

The releases followed the pardon announced last Wednesday by President Filipe Nyusi, during his State of the Nation Address given at the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic.
The main ceremony was held at the Maputo Penitentiary, where 280 prisoners were released. Chairing the event, Justice Minister Joaquim Verissimo urged the former prisoners to avoid any return to criminal behaviour.
“We would like to urge you to make good use of this opportunity granted to you by the President to return to your families as free men”, said the Minister. “We hope that when you return to prison it will merely be to visit other inmates, giving them a signal of humanism and solidarity”.

For their part, the former prisoners pledged that they will henceforth prove themselves worthy of living as free men in any society. The man chosen to represent them, Abilio Mathe, asked the government to be stricter in observing the deadlines for preventive detention. He pointed out that that there are many people in prison who have not been tried, and are incarcerated merely because their period of preventive detention has expired.
“This puts pressure on the capacity of the prisons”, he said. “It is believed that the police detain first and investigate later”.

He cited a case he knew personally of a family deprived of its father, locked up under preventive detention. Mathe pointed out that the children in this family become vulnerable to crime themselves, and the girls to entering into child marriages.
Not all prisoners qualified for pardon. Excluded were those convicted of violent crimes. At the Maputo Civil Prison, in the centre of the city, AIM found that the ten inmates released were first offenders, who had served at least half their sentences, which ranged from 18 months to eight years.
Other factors taken into account in the releases were the age and health of the prisoners. Women older than 55 and men older than 60 were released, as were inmates suffering from chronic illnesses who cannot be cared for properly inside prison.

Of those released in the civil prison only one was a woman. She was a South African, Tania Ngive, sentenced to eight years for drug trafficking. She has served six years and two months. She was anxious to return to her family and promised that she would never again become involved in criminal activity.
“I am very happy with this decision of President Nyusi. It’s so good to feel free and to be able to go home and rejoin my family”, she said. “I learnt a lot here in the prison, and I’m going to continue learning and use my knowledge to the benefit of my family and my country”.

Another foreigner released was Malawian Mailon Uka, who had been sentenced to three years and six months for forging currency. He served two years and three months. He regarded the pardon as an opportunity to do something better for his family. He promised that from now on he would choose his friends more carefully.
“It’s a day of great happiness for me and my family”, said Uka. “I’m going home ready to help. I’ve learnt a lot of good things, and I want to continue doing good. But I need friends to help me and my family grow”.
Then Maputo City Director of Justice, Cosmo Nyusi, told the ten inmates being released from the civil prison that their good behaviour had contributed to their early release. He urged them to continued showing the discipline and respect that had characterised them while in prison.

“Society is counting on you for developing the social and economic well-being of the country”, he said – but added the warning that any of them who end up in prison again will be regarded as repeat offenders, and will not qualify for any further pardons.

The National Director of Prison Inspections, Marcos Cumbane, revealed that in the Civil Prison, only 60 inmates are serving sentence, while over 200 are in preventive detention or awaiting trial.

Source: AIM