Under a presidential decree, 604 of those covered by the pardon will be fully released from their sentences. Others will have their sentences reduced or replaced with less severe forms of punishment.
The decree was issued under Article 109, Clause 23 of Uzbekistan’s Constitution, which authorizes the president to pardon people serving sentences who have sincerely repented and embarked on a path of rehabilitation, Uzbekistan 24 reported.
Of the 852 people pardoned, 115 will be released on parole ahead of schedule, while 52 will have their sentences replaced with less severe forms of punishment. The prison terms of another 81 people will be reduced.
The group includes seven foreign nationals and 63 people who had been involved in the activities of banned organizations.
Young people make up 375 of those pardoned, while 49 are women and 37 are men over the age of 60.
The latest decree brings the total number of presidential pardon decrees issued in Uzbekistan since 2017 to 31. Together, they have granted pardons to 10,567 people serving prison sentences.
