Bogotá, November 23 (teleSUR-RHC)-- The Colombian government has granted a presidential pardon to 30 members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC, the government announced on Sunday.

However, pardons were only granted to prisoners accused of “rebellion” and not to those accused of other crimes considered “more severe,” authorities said, while adding they would check the health status of 106 imprisoned rebels in order to provide them with medical assistance. 

The government said the decision was made as another step in the “confidence-building gestures” between the two sides, who have been holding peace talks in Havana since 2012.   

"The government will design a program for this first group of FARC members that will receive the benefit in order to guarantee them psycho-social support, support for their families, access to education and training to enable them to work," the government said in an official statement. 

The decision follows statements by FARC spokesperson Ricardo Tellez, who accused the Colombian government of ignoring the existence of political prisoners in Colombia.  

“There are more than 9,500, without medical attention, suffering overcrowding and resisting permanent repression and mistreatment,” he said. 

He added that a group of prisoners completed 13 days of hunger strike, which has been silenced by the national authorities and said this is a “provocation” against the peace process that seeks to end 50 years of armed conflict in the South American country.