Turkey Mistakenly Releases 500 Prisoners

Published May 12th, 2001 - 03:00 GMT

Turkish authorities released around 500 criminals by mistake in an amnesty late last year that freed more than 23,000 prisoners, reported the Turkish Daily News on Saturday.

The Justice Ministry in a statement on Thursday denied reports that tens of thousands of prisoners who were not eligible for the amnesty had been released.

It said "there had been around 500 inmates released by mistake."

About 8,715 additional prisoners who were not released had appealed to the courts to free them.

The measure, designed to ease the pressure on overcrowded prisons, was considered controversial at the time because it freed criminals while excluding many political prisoners, said the paper.

Members of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and other extremist militant groups were excluded from the amnesty.

The statement did not detail the 500 released prisoners' crimes, said the paper - Albawaba.com