The newly appointed Commission on Presidential Pardon has not released prisoners recently

So far, the newly-set up Commission on Presidential Pardon, appointed by Rosen Plevneliev, has not approved a single request for the early release of prisoners, announced yesterday the Commission's Vice Chairwoman Margarita Popova and its Chairwoman, Iva Pushkarova, at a special press conference.

Since January 23, when Plevneliev - Popova assumed office, a total of 200 cases have been considered. However, none has met the set exclusivity criterion, stated Margarita Popova. All decisions were taken by consensus by the five members of the Commission. Only one case was on the brink, disclosed the Vice Chair.

According to Iva Pushkarova, the fact that no applications have been approved does not mean that it comes down to ''restrictive or inhumane policies". The truth is that a normal functioning judicial system rarely grants a pardon, argued Pushkarova.

Pushkarova explained that there are other institutions dealing with such issues.Each place of detention subordinate to the Ministry of Justice is also being monitored by the Commissions for Early Release of Prisoners, whose decisions, however, are approved by the court, explained Vice Chairwoman Margarita Popova.

On January 23, 2012, the Commission had 274 outstanding applications for pardon and another 309 were received afterwards, read the report posted on the Presidency's website.

Прочети цялата новина

Свързани новини: