The Minister of Justice Tharcisse Karugarama has announced that the presidential pardon to release 1667 prisoners will begin next week contrary to what has been previously reported that it would begin mid this week.
According to the Ministry of Internal security website, the prisoners would have been released this week but details of delay has not been communicated but inside sources suggest it was only finalizing administrative process.
“Only those who have served a quarter of their sentence, those with life imprisonment sentence and have served at least ten years and those who meet all criteria for conditional release will benefit the presidential pardon,” Minister Karugarama said.
He also said that Rwanda Correction Services and Public Prosecution is scrutinising the list of those illigible for conditional release so as no mistake is cited after their release.
Other criteria considered for the prisoners to benefit from the presidential pardon include those who have demonstrated good behaviour or suffered from serious and incurable diseases, according to the internal security ministry website.
Presidential Pardon was announced during the recent cabinet meeting in accordance to LAW N° 13/2004 OF 17/5/2004 relating to the code of criminal procedure.
Section two of that law in articles 237 to 243 provides criteria for conditional release and also done on request from the Minister having justice in his or her attributions.
It can also be approved by the Minister having Justice in his or her attributions on the request of the public prosecution and director of prison.
This section two of this law also gives powers to deny public prosecution request of a conditional release of any inmate.
In case of urgency, a new arrest for the purposes of detaining a person who is under conditional release can be ordered by the Prosecutor General of the Republic, or the Public Prosecutor in charge of prosecution service office at a Higher Instance level or the public prosecutor in charge of the prosecution service office at a Lower Instance level, and shall immediately inform the Minister in charge of justice.
However article 237 also provides that persons who have been sentenced for genocide or crimes against humanity, terrorism, defiling children or sexual torture and all other crimes related to national security or of other countries, treason and espionage and all other international crimes provided for by the penal code cannot be conditionally released.
Minister Karugarama says that the release is also aimed at creating environment of taking a prison as a correction place other than looked at as a punishment ground.
According to the Minister about 3000 inmates had applied for conditional release adding that other benefit include decreasing crowding of the prisons.
Karugarama says that after 1994 Genocide prison crowding has decreased from 200, 000 inmates to 58000 inmates to date with 40,000 charged with Genocide crimes.
The minister says conditional release has helped in reduction of over overcrowding of prisons which led to three prisons of Nyagatare, Gisovu and Nyanza close doors.
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