"Joshua French will become a free man", Mwamba tells NRK Monday morning.
There are still several procedures that will have to be in place before President Joseph Kabila can sign a pardon, he adds. It is not clear when this will happen, but Minister of Justice Mwamba claims he can "guarantee" it will happen some time this year.
Mwamba says French, who has been jailed for almost eight years, is to be pardoned out of consideration to his mother, Kari Hilde French, who has spent the last couple of years in Kinshasa tending to her son in prison.
DR Congos Minister of Justice, Alexis Thambwe Mwamba, claims Joshua French will be pardoned some time this year.
Foto: Christine PræsttunForeign Minister Børge Brende cautions that nothing is certain, and the case is not closed until French is out the country.
"Positive signals from Congos [Justice Minister]. [The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs] will continue its work. It's a difficult case and not solved until Joshua French is out of the Congo", Brende writes on Twitter.
"I won't believe it until I see it," says Jostein Holm, a close friend of French. "Kabila is set to withdraw some time this year, so we run the risk of a new government and new ministers who change their minds," he adds.
Joshua French and Tjostolv Moland, also a Norwegian national, was arrested in May 2009 and later tried for the murder of a local driver in the eastern parts of the country.
The men were found guilty on all charges, including espionage, armed robbery and possession of illegal firearms, and sentenced to life in prison.
Tjostolv Moland died in his prison cell on August 18th 2013. Despite being ruled a clear case of suicide by Norwegian investigators who participated in the forensic work, French was tried in a military court in Kinshasa and convicted of his murder.
Kari Hilde French does not wish to comment Mwambas pardon claim at present time.
