Macedonia Eases Pressure on Jails

The law, which passed in parliament late Monday, pardons all convicts serving jail sentences of less than six months, about 670 of them.

The law also cuts the jail terms of some 3,100 prisoners serving for less than five years by 30 per cent.

The one-time amnesty will not affect people serving life sentences, or people convicted of murder, electoral irregularities, sex offences or those found guilty of having worked against the country, been part of criminal organizations or having acted against international law.

The move by the Social Democrat-led government is meant as a first step towards easing overcrowding in the nation's prisons and improving conditions at correctional facilities - for which the country has been regularly criticised in past human rights reports issued by the ombudsman's office, as well as by Brussels and Washington.

The amnesty should be felt at Idrizovo prison, the country's largest and located near the capital Skopje. Designed to house no more than 1,000 inmates, the detention centre has for years been forced to receive close to three times its maximum capacity.

A group of civic associations has been lobbying for an amnesty for over two years. They have complained of overcrowding, the unexplained deaths of prisoners, corruption, and widespread drug use, as well as poor food and sanitary conditions.

For some years, reports by Macedonia's Ombudsman and by the European Commission have supported most of these claims.

While some civic human rights organizations praised the amnesty, not all are happy.

The biggest opposition right-wing VMRO DPMNE party slated the new law as corrupt and selective.

They drew a close connection between the amnesty and the ongoing...