Current president, Maithripala Sirisena, freed 267 prisoners over the age of 65, following the outrage sparked by the pardon of the killer of a Swedish teenager.
Earlier this week, inmates at Welikada prison, Sri Lanka’s biggest high security prison, demanded their freedom after Sirisena pardoned Jude Jayamaha, who was sentenced to death in 2005 over the murder of Yvonne Jonsson.
In order to reduce the outrage prompted by Jayamaha’s release, Sirisena issued a pardon for 267 prisoners who were serving time for offences other than rape and murder, France 24 reports.
“We have now got orders from the president and the prisoners will walk free today and tomorrow,” a justice ministry official told AFP.
Jayamaha was given amnesty by the president at the request of leading monks who asked Sirisena to consider the pardon “in accordance with the Buddhist teachings of compassion.”
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