What do former US president Gerald Ford, former South Korean president Kim Dae Jung, and Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo have in common?

They all granted pardon to former presidents of their countries.

Gerald Ford, who assumed the presidency after his predecessor Richard Nixon resigned amid the Watergate scandal, pardoned Nixon on August 9, 1974. Ford suffered a huge decline in his approval rating after his decision. According to US pollster Gallup, Ford’s initial approval rating of 71 percent dropped to 50 percent after issuing the pardon.

In 1997, South Korea’s Kim Dae Jung pardoned two military dictators and former presidents Roh Tae Woo and Chun Doo Hwan after the latter spent two years in prison. Roh and Chun were found guilty for their roles in a coup in 1979 and a violent crackdown of protesters in 1980, and for accepting bribes from businessmen.

Other leaders who had granted pardons to former high-ranking officials and opposition leaders found guilty of committing crimes include:

• Rwandan president Paul Kagame, who in April 2007 granted a pardon to his predecessor Pasteur Bizimingu. Bizimingu was found guilty of embezzlement, forming a militia, and inciting violence and was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.
• King Norodom Sihamoni of Cambodia, who in 2006 granted the request of Prime Minister Hun Sen to pardon opposition leaders Sam Rainsy and Cheam Channy. Rainsy, who was on self-exile in France when the pardon was granted, was found guilty of defaming the prime minister and National Assembly President Prince Norodom Ranariddh. He was sentenced—in absentia—to 18 months in jail. Meanwhile, Channy, who was found guilty of planning to overthrow the government, had served the first year of his seven-year sentence when the pardon was issued.
• Kazakhstan’s president Nursultan Nazarbayev, who in 2003 granted a pardon to jailed opposition leader Mukhtar Ablyazov. Ablyazov, a founding member of the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan movement and a former energy minister, was serving a six-year prison sentence for corruption.
• Former Argentina president Carlos Menem, who in 1990 granted a pardon to jailed former military president Leopoldo Galtieri. Galtieri was a general who served as Argentina’s president from December 1981 to June 1982. His forces annexed the British Falkland Islands in April 1982, resulting in a two-month war with Britain. He was found guilty of mishandling the Falklands War and was serving time in prison when pardoned. However, he was re-arrested and tried for human rights abuses in 1990. Galtieri died while on house arrest.—Research by Jesus Llanto

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