14ymedio, Havana, 15 November 2016 – On Tuesday, Cuba’s council of state announced pardons for 787 prisoners “in response to the call from Pope Francis to the heads of state in the Holy Year of Mercy,” according to the official newspaper Granma.
Those benefitting from the pardon were selected based on “the characteristics of the events for which they were sanctioned, behavior while serving their time and the time remaining in their sentence,” said the announcement.
Humanitarian reasons also weighed in the decision, including in the release “women, youth, the sick and other categories.”
Excluded from the pardon were those sentenced “for crimes of murder, manslaughter, corruption of minors, rape, drug trafficking and other extremely dangerous acts.”
In September of last year the government of Raul Castro pardoned 3,522 prisoners to mark the visit of Pope Francis to the island. The decision was welcomed by the dissident organizations, although several opposition leaders warned the government continues to jail Cubans for political reasons.
