Cuba pardoned 787 prisoners after Pope Francis’ declaration of the year of mercy, reported the State Council headed by President Raúl Castro.
“The reasons for imprisonment, prisoner conduct during the sentence, and time left of the sentence were all taken into account,” said the official statement published in the newspaper Granma on Tuesday.
Those who were charged with murder, rape, drug trafficking and other violent charges were not included in the pardons, according to the statement.
The pardoned are common criminals, said Gerardo Sánchez from the NGO Human Rights and National Reconciliation Commission, which monitors imprisoned dissidents.
Last week, Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes accepted the Pontiff’s request to pardon ordinary prisoners.