Rwanda has released some categories of prisoners from the central African country's highly overcrowded jails, in keeping with instructions from Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
Those freed today are either seriously ill or are over the age of 70.
The operation, which is taking place throughout the country, is aimed at freeing between 30,000 and 40,000 prisoners, according to Prosecutor General Gerald Gahima.
The measure concerns both common-law prisoners and those accused of participation in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, but not ringleaders in the latter, when Hutu soldiers and extremist militias killed up to a million people.
In Kigali alone 237 prisoners were freed on Friday, that is "the vast majority of the old and the sick" in the city's three prisons, according to Gilbert Sebihogo of the prosecutor's office in the Rwandan capital.
He said he was not in a position to give the total number of prisoners being released Friday throughout the country.
Among those eligible for release are those who were minors at the time of their alleged crimes, those who are very old and those who are seriously ill.
Another category of prisoners eligible for release are those genocide suspects who have confessed to their crimes and whose confessions have been accepted by the prosecutor's office, on condition that they have already served a jail term longer than the maximum term to which they could be sentenced after confession.
Justice Minister Jean de Dieu Mucyo told journalists earlier this week that the measure is not an amnesty as those released will still face trial at a later date.
Some 115,000 prisoners are currently packed into Rwanda's jails and 90 percent of them are accused of participation in the 1994 genocide.
The operation should be completed by the end of January.
AFP