25-12-2023 (COLOMBO) In the spirit of Christmas, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe has granted amnesty to more than 1,000 convicts, facilitating their release from prisons nationwide, according to a statement from a prisons official on Monday.
Among the 1,004 individuals released on Monday were Sri Lankans who had been incarcerated due to their inability to pay outstanding fines, as disclosed by Prison Commissioner Gamini Dissanayake.
The predominantly Buddhist nation had previously witnessed a similar release of around the same number of convicts in May, coinciding with the Vesak holiday, which commemorates the birth, enlightenment, and death of Buddha.
This recent act of clemency follows a weeklong military-backed anti-narcotics operation that resulted in the arrest of nearly 15,000 individuals. The operation was abruptly halted on Christmas Eve. According to a police statement, 13,666 suspects were apprehended, while almost 1,100 addicts were detained and directed to compulsory rehabilitation at a military-operated facility.
Sri Lanka has been grappling with chronic overcrowding in its prisons. As of Friday, official data revealed that the inmate population stood at nearly 30,000, a staggering figure considering the facilities were designed to accommodate only 11,000 individuals.
