President Lazarus Chakwera has handed out pardons to 52 prisoners as part of Easter celebrations.
Minister of Homeland Security has announced the pardons saying prisoners released under the presidential pardon are reformed convicts who committed minor offenses.
Chakwera who was elected president in June last year also pardoned 499 prisoners in August, 2020 to reduce congestion in prisons amid the Coronavirus pandemic.
During the Christmas and New Year festivities, Chakwera pardoned 787 prisoners from various facilities across the country.
Chapter 89 (2) of the Constitution gives the president power to “pardon convicted offenders, grant stays of execution of sentence, reduce sentences, or remit sentences:
It requires that this should be done in consultation with an Advisory Committee on the Granting of Pardon, the composition and formation of which shall be determined by an Act of Parliament.
