President Nikos Christodoulides has pardoned 11 third-country nationals who are currently inmates at the central prison, with all 11 set to be released and immediately deported, the justice ministry said on Friday.

It said the pardon and the subsequent deportation of the convicts is being carried out “within the framework of the broader policy for the decongestion of prisons”, and that all 11 had been scheduled for release later this year.

“The procedures provided for by law were immediately activated, resulting in the deportation of the persons in question, as well as their names being placed on the list of prohibited persons so that they cannot return to the Republic of Cyprus,” it said.

It added that the move is “part of a broader and coherent set of measures implemented to address the chronic problem of prison overcrowding, with full respect for the rule of law and with a view to strengthening public security”.

The move comes after the government had earlier announced that 164 third-country nationals who were held in the central prison and other detention centres had been deported between December 10 and January 20.

In December, the Council of Europe’s committee for the prevention of torture had said that living conditions for inmates at the prison “remain very poor” and are “affected by severe overcrowding”, with overcrowding having reached such an extent that “up to four prisoners” share cells of less than six square metres in area.

In those cells, it said, “two persons are forced to sleep on mattresses on the floor, when such cells are scarcely sufficient for one person”.

More than 1,000 people are currently incarcerated at the central prison.