Prigozhin declares that 5,000 Wagner prisoners have now been set free

Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner private military company (PMC), has said that more than 5,000 Wagnerites have been pardoned and released after participating in the war against Ukraine.

Source: Prigozhin in an audio commentary released by his press service

Quote: "The contract with Wagner PMC has now ended, and more than 5,000 people have been released under a pardon."

Details: Prigozhin claims that 0.31% of the pardoned Wagner prisoners went on to reoffend within one month.

He says this is 10-20 times less than the standard figures for released prisoners prior to Russia's war against Ukraine.

Prigozhin stated that most of the crimes committed by the pardoned Wagnerites were "mutilations of various degrees of severity" inflicted on people who opposed the war.

The Wagner Group leader’s data regarding the number of people pardoned has not yet been verified.

Background: On 21 March, British intelligence reported that the Wagner prisoners who made it through the war in Ukraine and survived would shortly receive their promised pardon and freedom, and their return could pose a challenge for Russian society.

Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War believe that in the coming weeks, the Wagner Group may lose most of its convict mercenaries as their six-month military contracts expire.

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