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About 820 prisoners could be released or see their prison terms reduced on the occasion of the Water Festival that begins early next month, a justice official said Monday.
"The Ministry of Justice will request King Norodom Sihamoni to grant royal pardons or reduce jail terms for those prisoners on the occasion of the upcoming Water Festival," Soch Sophannara, head of the Ministry of Justice's criminal affairs department, told reporters.
He said that under Cambodian law, a prisoner is qualified for a royal amnesty provided he or she has served at least two-thirds of the jail term and behaved well while serving time in prison.
For a jail-term reduction, a prisoner must have served one- thirds of the prison term, he added.
Generally, the country asks the king to grant royal pardons or reduce jail terms for prisoners three times a year -- Khmer New Year, Visak Bochea (Buddha's) Day and Water Festival.
The Water Festival will be celebrated on Nov. 5, 6 and 7 for the first time since 353 people were trampled to death or suffocated in a stampede on a bridge during the celebrations in 2010.
It is the largest annual festival in the Southeast Asian nation. Approximately three million Cambodians, especially those from rural areas, will converge in Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia, to enjoy the regatta.
