The Cuban government has decided to release over 2,000 prisoners through pardon, including women, people over 60 and foreigners, the Communist Party of the Caribbean Republic said.
“As part of the process of granting compensation to prisoners established by law, the Cuban government has decided to release 2,010 prisoners through pardon“, said a statement from the party published on April 3 in X.
The publication notes that this “humanitarian and sovereign decision“ was taken after “a thorough analysis of the nature of the prisoners' crimes, taking into account their typical prison history, the significant part of the sentences they have served and their state of health“.
The statement from the Communist Party of Cuba noted that “among those released will be young people, women, people over 60 years of age, prisoners whose parole terms have expired in the last six months or will expire next year, as well as foreigners and Cuban citizens residing in other countries“. The publication also indicated exceptions to the pardon: those convicted of particularly serious crimes will not be included in the list for pardon.
The Communist Party of Cuba stressed that the decision to pardon coincided with the Easter holidays, “a common practice in the national criminal justice system and a reflection of the humanistic approach of the revolution“. The statement also noted that this is the second time the Cuban government has pardoned prisoners this year and the fifth since 2011, bringing the total number of pardons to more than 11,000 people in similar trials.
The Cuban government announced its previous decision to release 51 people under agreements with the Vatican on March 13.