Tajikistan to pardon 10,000 prisoners

Dushanbe: Tajikistan will pardon 10,000 prisoners as the ex-Soviet state marks two decades of its constitution, the presidency said Monday. 

President Emomali Rakhmon has submitted to parliament a draft law on the amnesty plan, proposing to release women, minors and foreigners, as well as those who have served at least three quarters of their jail terms.

However, those convicted of serious crimes including murder, treason or terrorism would not be granted amnesty.

Tajikistan, an impoverished Muslim nation of some eight million people, had been led since 1992 by former Soviet apparatchik Rakhmon.