More than a third of the inmates in Mozambique’s prisons should no longer be incarcerated, the country’s justice minister has said.

Helena Kida has revealed that, out of a total number of 16,000 prisoners, about 6,000 have been waiting for their trials for more than the legal maximum limit of four months. Given that, they should be released.

In a lengthy interview broadcast on the publicly-owned channel Mozambique Television, Ms Kida added that many of those who are serving sentences should qualify for conditional release.

Yet they remain in the country’s overcrowded jails, which in theory only have space for 8,000 people.

The situation used to be considerably worse. Recently there were around 21,000 prisoners but the number was cut thanks to the presidential pardon in April for prisoners serving short sentences.

Nonetheless, the prisons remain grossly overcrowded and this is seen as a serious threat to the inmates’ health and lives, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is also very expensive. Caring for 16,000 prisoners costs the Mozambican state about $162,000 (£129,000) a day.

The justice minister said work was being done to speed the judicial process up.