FARC Guerrillas temporary released from Colombia Prison

At least 24 members of the rebel group FARC-EP are being released from prisons in Colombia to participate in the 10th National Guerilla Conference that begins on Saturday.

At the conference the rebels will approve the peace deal that was agreed upon between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP) and the government of President Juan Manuel Santos, in Havana, Cuba, to end half a century of internal armed conflict.

The request was made by the presidency, based on a 2005 law that allows the president to "request legal benefits for members of organized illegal armed groups, to promote humanitarian agreements, as long as it contributes to the pursuit and achievement of national peace."

This year’s conference will be held between Sept. 17 and 23 in Llanos del Yari, a town in an Indigenous region of southern Colombia home to several campesino movements.

According to Jorge Eduardo Londoño, Colombia's Minister of Justice, the rebels will have a permit during the eight days of the event, and after that they will return to prison.