0 an occasion when someone who has committed a crime is officially forgiven: --
The new government is to grant a free pardon to all political prisoners.
But the remedy that we use upon these occasions is still the free pardon.
If a free pardon is granted, the police and the prison authorities act in the same way as if the individual had been acquitted.
The last free pardon was granted in 1996 and involved summary driving offences.
The expression "free pardon" has been used over many years.
In one such case a free pardon was granted, in 1982.
They recommended, inter alia, that the term "free pardon" be replaced by some word bearing the correct connotation of annulment, and so on.
I can find no sufficient ground for advising the grant of a free pardon in this case.
They, accordingly, went to him, and obtained information from him, and promised him a free pardon.
