President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has signed the law "On Amnesty in connection with the Day of National Unity". This was reported to BELTA by the press service of the Belarusian leader.
The document was developed on the instructions of the head of state. An integral feature of the criminal executive policy in Belarus is the demonstration of humanism towards persons serving various types of criminal sentences. One of the forms of implementing this principle is amnesty. The state provides an opportunity for reformed convicts to be released from serving their sentences ahead of schedule. In this case, amnesty is applied only to persons who are positively characterised during their sentence and have embarked on the path of correction.
The law defines categories of persons subject to release from punishment and other measures of criminal liability for crimes that do not pose a significant public danger or are classified as less serious. These include, among others, minors; pregnant women; women and single men with children under 18 years of age, except for those who have committed a crime against a minor; those who have reached the generally established retirement age; disabled persons of groups I and II; certain persons suffering from a number of diseases; veterans of combat operations in the territory of other states; victims of the Chernobyl NPP disaster, other radiation accidents; those who sustained injuries (concussions), mutilations, or illnesses during their military service or in connection with official duties.
The law also provides for the release from punishment of persons sentenced with a suspended sentence, with a conditional non-application of punishment, without the imposition of punishment, whose sentences were handed down on the day the law enters into force; those sentenced to arrest, as well as a number of other categories of convicts.
Taking into account the established legislative procedure, the issue of reducing the sentence for each specific convict will be decided individually.
However, the amnesty law will not apply to persons who have committed crimes of a terrorist or extremist nature. The document also contains a number of other cases in which amnesty will not be applied.