COCO the Coco Pops monkey has been freed, emaciated and blinking at the light, by campaigners from Amnesty International.
The monkey, famous to Britons as the face of the cereal for more than 50 years, was imprisoned for advertising junk food to children and sentenced to life without possibility of parole.
He said: “Once, I proudly proclaimed to the young people of Britain that I ‘live in the jungle, not in a zoo’. But compared to where I have been, a zoo is a paradise.
“Rotting alone in a darkened jail, I drank the milk of my bug-infested porridge not because it was delicious and brown and chocolatey but because I needed it to survive another day.
“It is only thanks to the ceaseless campaigning of my friends Alan Anteater, Hefty Hippo and even my old enemy Crafty Croc that I stand before you today, a free monkey.
“Amnesty’s efforts cannot end here. Please, I call upon everyone to write letters and donate funds so we can release the Caramel Bunny.”
When asked how he planned to celebrate his freedom, Coco said he would be eating about six bowls of sugar.
