Nearly 4,000 prisoners, including 19 foreigners, will receive a presidential pardon to mark Turkmenistan's Neutrality Day holiday.

"According to the President, the [pardon] applies to 3,934 people, including 19 foreign nationals who transgressed the law but sincerely repented their deeds," the Turkmen state news agency reported on December 2.

In September, 1,284 people, including 21 foreigners, were released from jail or conditions of house arrest; and in May, 1,671 prisoners were eventually freed after a cash-for-pardons scandal within the Interior Ministry threatened to derail the amnesty. Neutrality Day is observed on December 12.