Aug 20, Colombo: The Sri Lankan government says that a total of 19,271 prisoners have been granted presidential pardons since 2005 to date.

Deputy Rehabilitation and Prison Reforms Minster Wijithamuni Soysa told parliament in response to a question posed by Democratic National Alliance (DNA) parliamentarian Sunil Handunnetti that 19,271 prisoners were freed under presidential pardons since 2005.

The minister however requested for a period of one month to present the list of the names of prisoners who have received presidential pardons along with the offence committed by the pardoned prisoners.

"We need to gather this information from different prisons so it will take some time," Soysa said.