Tokens: Under
the
current
system
in
Cyprus
,
any
prospect
a
life
prisoner
has
for
release
rests
with
the
President
of
the
Republic
,
who
has
the
discretionary
power
,
subject
to
the
agreement
of
the
Attorney
-
General
,
to
remit
,
commute
or
suspend
sentences
(
Article
53
§
4
of
the
Constitution
)
.
Moreover
,
section
14
of
the
Prison
Law
of
3
May
1996
(
as
amended
by
Law
no
.
12(I)/97
)
extended
the
President
’s
constitutional
powers
to
cover
conditional
release
.
Hence
,
although
the
prospect
of
release
for
prisoners
serving
life
sentences
does
exist
in
theory
,
it
is
in
practice
extremely
limited
.
It
is
true
that
the
mere
fact
that
the
prospect
of
release
is
limited
is
not
sufficient
in
itself
for
a
finding
of
a
violation
of
Article
3
of
the
Convention
(
see
Einhorn
v.
France
(
dec
.
)
,
no
.
71555/01
,
§
§
27
-
28
,
ECHR
2001
-
XI
)
.
However
,
the
prospect
of
release
,
even
if
limited
,
must
exist
de
facto
in
concrete
terms
,
particularly
so
as
not
to
aggravate
the
uncertainty
and
distress
inherent
in
a
life
sentence
.
By
“
de
facto
”
we
mean
a
genuine
possibility
of
release
.
That
was
manifestly
not
the
case
in
this
instance
.
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