Prague, Nov 22 (CTK) – Czech President Milos Zeman has granted pardons to two female prisoners, Zeman’s spokesman Jiri Ovcacek told journalists yesterday, adding that Pope Francis pleaded for one of them at the close of the Holy Year of Mercy as she looks after her baby in a prison.
She is a young woman whose baby would have to be taken away from her after the child were three years old, Ovcacek said.
She was punished for embezzlement and her case does not fulfil the conditions Zeman demands when granting mercy as she does not suffer from any grave illness, Ovcacek said.
“Pope Francis recently turned to Zeman in a personal letter with the plea to show an act of mercy. It was entirely up to Zeman what form of mercy and grace he will choose,” Ovcacek said.
The woman was granted the mercy on November 20, when the Holy Year ended.
The other woman has suffered from a mental diseases for long, due to which her prison term was several times interrupted. She was convicted of fraud, embezzlement and crime associated with a tender.
She served almost one half of her prison term. She is of an advanced age and due to her positive assessment, she was placed in a prison with moderate conditions, Ovcacek said.
Justice Minister Robert Pelikan submitted both pardons to Zeman.
Both women were convicted for the first time.
Previously, Zeman granted three pardons, most recently at the end of September. All the persons were in a bad condition.
The Justice Ministry receives some 600 requests for pardons annually. It has to turn down most of them as they do not fulfil the strict criteria Zeman defined.
Out of the Czech presidents, the institute of pardon was most extensively used by Vaclav Havel, who pardoned 1,247 perpetrators in 1993-2003, in addition to 601 in his previous capacity as Czechoslovak president between December 1989-July 1992.
Zeman’s predecessor Vaclav Klaus granted 412 pardons.
In 1988 alone, the last Communist president Gustav Husak gave 2,028 pardons.
