Burundi on Monday released 2,500 inmates, including political prisoners, following a presidential pardon.
The operation was launched by justice minister Aimee Laurentine Kanyana at Mpimba prison in the East African country’s capital Bujumbura.
President Pierre Nkurunziza made the announcement to pardon the prisoners in his new year message to the nation.
“The presidential pardon targets 2,500 inmates detained in all prisons countrywide. But this pardon is special as it also targets political prisoners,” Kanyana said.
The minister said 58 people from the opposition Movement for Solidarity and Democracy (MSD) have been pardoned. The pardon also targets insurgents who participated in the protests against the candidature of Nkurunziza in April 2015, she said.
The 2015 protests escalated to violence in the country, with thousands killed while thousands more fled to neighbouring countries.
