Algeria frees 3,300 prisoners

05 Jul, 2005

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has pardoned 3,343 prisoners serving sentences for minor crimes to mark the 43rd anniversary of independence on Tuesday, state radio said. Prisoners convicted of terrorism, threatening state security, murder and corruption were excluded from the measure, the radio said on Monday.
The North African country traditionally pardons thousands of inmates on independence day and Muslim holidays.

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