ATTORNEY-general Petros Clerides said last night he was making no promises about the traditional reduction in prisoners` sentences when a new President is elected.
Commenting on reports that prisoners were disappointed when no moves were made to implement the tradition in the wake of the election of Demetris Christofias, Clerides said he was still considering the issue.
Usually, a new presidency means a reduction of one quarter in prison sentences, at the instigation of the Attorney-general.
“I wonder about this practice that has been in place for so many years, although this does not mean there might not be pardons from the President,” said Clerides.
“What I am saying is I wonder to what extent it will be given in the same way it has been given in the past, that is, a general reduction in sentences of one quarter.”
Asked whether he had discussed it with the President, Clerides said he had made no proposals to Christofias for pardons or for any reductions in sentences.
“The truth is that I am thinking certain thoughts that do not conform with the practice which has been followed for so many years,” said Clerides.
“This however does not mean that I have made any decisions, neither does it mean I have made concrete proposals to the President, neither does it man that I intend by any proposal to create difficulties for the President in the application of this measure that has been gotten used to even if I believe this indiscriminate reduction of sentences is not the best method.”
One convict hoping to benefit from the traditional reduction in sentence is Briton Julian Harrington who was jailed for 15 years after he pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of 17-year-old Christos Papiris in August 2006.
Harrington was driving a car that rammed three times into Papiris` moped in a revenge attack after a friend of his was injured in a brawl earlier in the night.
The brawl did not involve Papiris nor his friend, who was also injured in the ramming incident.
According to reports in the UK press, Harrington was looking forward to the reduction in his sentence. “He is fine. He is really looking forward, hopefully, to the reduction,” his brother told one newspaper in the UK.
