89 prisoners in Republic of Congo get presidential pardon
Xinhua, June 9, 2016 Adjust font size:
Eighty nine prisoners in the Republic of Congo have been released following a presidential decree that pardoned them.
Those pardoned included primary offenders as well as those who were imprisoned because of political events that occurred in the country between 2014 and 2016.
According to legal sources, the majority of them were supposed to spend a few more months, or even years, in prison.
"I never knew I could be free today. The decision taken by the president was very important for me. I lack words to tell him thank you, but I promise never to break the law again," said Lydie Moukoko, one of the freed prisoners.
Reacting to the president's decision announced earlier this week, Rene Serge Blanchard Oba who heads the opposition Movement for Solidarity and Democracy, said the presidential pardon should have been extended to other political detainees.
On May 25, the main opposition alliance, Initiative for Democracy in Congo and Republican Front for Respect of Constitutional Order (IDC-FROCAD) issued a statement urging President Denis Sassou N'guesso to unconditionally release all political prisoners, especially Jean Marie Michel Mokoko and Andre Okombi Salissa, two former presidential candidates who have been placed under house arrest since March 3, 2016. Endit