Bozize pardons petty offenders

Petty offenders in the Central African Republic (CAR) are due to benefit from a presidential pardon, a senior government official told IRIN on Tuesday. The announcement was made after celebrations on Monday to mark one year since Francois Bozize seized power. "President Bozize will soon sign the decree granting presidential pardon to prisoners imprisoned for misdemeanour to prove his good will," Firmin Feindiro, prosecutor of the Bangui Tribunal of First Instance, said. He added, "The measure concerns all CAR nationals and we don't know yet who are they, or how many are they." During Monday's celebrations, a military parade took place and Bozize celebrated mass in the Eglise Celeste in the capital, Bangui. The church's elders appealed to him over the pardon and he promised to sign the decree releasing prisoners convicted for misdemeanours, state-owned Radio Centrafrique reported on Tuesday. Bozize's move comes up as an appeasement to the country faced with social tensions. Journalists' organisation such as Groupement des Editeurs de la Presse Privee en Centrafrique and French-based Reporters Sans Frontiers expected the pardon to apply to Judes Zosse, publisher of the privately-owned daily newspaper L'Hirondelle, who was sentenced to a six-month prison term on 12 March for slandering Bozize.