ADDIS ABABA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia's northern Tigray regional state on Friday announced the pardon of 2,004 prisoners.
In a press statement, the state administration said the prisoners, which include 55 females, were pardoned after meeting the necessary legal requirements.
The pardon is intended to coincide with the Tigray martyrs' day, which falls on June 22, the statement said.
The martyrs' day commemorates a bloody air attack on market-goers in the state's Hawzen city, on June 22, 1988 by forces of Ethiopian former president Mengistu Hailemariam.
The city was then under the control of Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF), now the region's ruling party.
The air raid was one of the most gruesome episodes of Ethiopia's 1975-1991 civil war.
The war ended on May 28, 1991, when a rebel coalition Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front, dominated by TPLF, captured Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa and ended Hailemariam's reign.
