Mozambique: Nyusi pardons over 1,000 prisoners – AIM report

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Mozambique: Nyusi pardons over 1,000 prisoners – AIM report

7:00 CAT | 28 Dec 2020

File photo: Noticias

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi has pardoned 1,182 citizens who were serving sentences in Mozambican prisons, thus honouring a promise he had made in his State of the Nation Address, given to the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, last week.

A statement from Nyusi’s office said that those benefiting from this pardon must be first offenders, who had not committed any offence classified as a “heinous crime”, and who had been sentenced to a prison term of eight years or less. They must have served at least half their sentence by 22 December, and must have shown good behavior while in prison.

The statement added that, “for humanitarian reasons”, prisoners suffering from serious illnesses, or who are 70 years or more old, also benefit from the presidential pardon.

Nyusi’s statement said he took the decision because of “the spirit of humanism, respect and protection of the dignity of the human person, and the solidarity which characterise the democratic rule of law and Mozambican society”.

The President was also motivated by the “firm belief in the capacity for regeneration, rehabilitation and social reinsertion” of the former prisoners.

The move is also eminently practical in that it will help relieve the serious overcrowding in Mozambican jails.

Source: AIM