Nyusi pardons 1,498 prisoners

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Nyusi pardons 1,498 prisoners

8:05 CAT | 19 Dec 2018

President of the Republic of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi (in file CoM)

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi today announced his decision to pardon 1,498 prisoners, saying the inmates have shown signs of reformation.

“We have taken the decision to pardon 1,498 convicted citizens on the list drawn up after a thorough and specialized work by technicians,” said President Nyusi in his State of the Nation address today in the Assembly of the Republic.

The ruling implies that those pardoned will have the remainder of their sentences scrapped, President Nyusi explained, basing the measure on the powers that the Constitution grants the head of state.

The Mozambican President said that the measure will allow prisoners who, due to age or illness, need assistance and care not available in the prison system to receive the necessary treatment outside prison.

President Nyusi urged society to welcome the pardoned prisoners “in a spirit of reconciliation and forgiveness”.

In a note out of the speech, the head of state dismissed fears of recidivism by the pardoned, noting that the beneficiaries of the first pardon exercised in 2015, the first year of his mandate, showed a capacity for social reintegration.

“There may have been another case of recidivism, but in general, everyone has adapted to life in freedom,” he said.

Source: Lusa