A man in the Netherlands with a lifelong prison sentence has been granted a pardon because he is terminally ill.

Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin made the decision following advice by the Dutch court and the Public Prosecutor's Office. As she does with every law, Queen Beatrix formally signed the clemency statement.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice confirmed the report from RTV Rijnmond, a broadcaster in the Midwest of Holland. The representative said he could not elaborate on the situation more specifically.
 

RTV Rijnmond claims the detainee is a 50-year-old man from Voorne-Putten, near Rotterdam.
Insiders say the man was convicted for a double murder in Germany in 1992 for which he was sentenced to a lifelong prison sentence. The conviction was taken over by the Netherlands in 1998 after the Dutchman was allowed to serve the rest of his time there.
 

In the Netherlands, lifelong prison sentences dating before 2006 often resulted in early releases because the maximum shorter-than-life prison sentence was only 20 years. In 2006 that was raised to 30 years. Judges often considered 20 years too short and sentenced people to life in prison instead. This resulted in many of those lifelong sentences being reduced.
 

A pardon is rarely granted in the Netherlands. Only the queen can decide to do so. It only occurs when a convict has shown to have improved his/her ways or in case of other special circumstances such as severe illness.
 

The last person who was granted clemency in the Netherlands was murderer Hans van Z. in 1986. His lifelong sentence was changed to 28.5 years because of good conduct. He was convicted for three robberies involving murder in 1969.
 

The spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice said that in the Netherlands someone who actually spends their whole life in prison hardly ever dies there, the terminally ill are always granted clemency. He added that the Netherlands counts 30 people who are currently serving a lifelong prison sentence.