AMERICA/PARAGUAY - For the Year of Mercy: pardon and better conditions in prisons

Saturday, 19 November 2016 human rights politics year of mercy

PARAGUAY

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Asuncion (Agenzia Fides) - The President of Paraguay, Horacio Cartes, announced yesterday, 18 November, the granting of pardon to 16 prisoners, mostly women, answering the request pronounced by Pope Francis to heads of state on the occasion of the Holy Year of Mercy. As Fides learns, in a ceremony in the Government Palace, attended by the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Eliseo Antonio Ariotti, Cartes granted pardon, claiming to have taken the invitation contained in the letter in which Pope Francis called for the freedom of prisoners "seriously".
The pardon regards 16 people, including 10 women detained in Buon Pastore, in that of Juana Maria de Lara and in the regional prison in Encarnacion. They will all be released by Sunday, said the Minister of Justice, who also announced an investment of 80 million dollars in prison facilities in the country to improve the living conditions of detainees. The prison population of Paraguay amounts to 13,071 people, although the infrastructure has the capacity to accommodate 6,643 inmates. (CE) (Agenzia Fides, 19/11/2016)