This Monday, March 20, 2023, the Minister of Justice and the Attorney General of the Republic of Burundi decided to release 148 prisoners from the Central Prison of Ngozi located in the north of the country.
According to the information that reaches the newspaper Itara Burundi, the prisoners who were released were those who had served ¼ of their sentence as well as a small number of those who committed minor offenses.
For the human rights activists contacted, these released prisoners are fewer in number compared to the prisoners unjustly incarcerated in various detention houses in Burundi who should be in freedom. One was surprised to see some prisoners who share a case but remain imprisoned while their co-accused are released.
They asked the government to set up a permanent commission to deal with the problems of overcrowding in prisons on a daily basis.
It should be noted that when President Evariste Ndayishimiye came to power in 2020, he decreed a presidential pardon of more than 5,200 prisoners in March 2021, but during his end-of-year speech, he said that 2,700 prisoners had been released. In subsequent speeches and actions, he has never yet specified the number of prisoners who would receive a presidential pardon. No news on this topic again.
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