25 October 2007
House of Representatives passes amnesty bill
The House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus approved the first reading and the second one of an amnesty bill on October 24. Presenting the bill, Belarus’ Interior Minister Vladimir Naumov remarked, the amnesty will grant freedom to around 1,700 inmates of enclosed-type correctional facilities and around 850 convicts of open-type correctional facilities. In particular, the amnesty will be granted to minor offenders sentenced to up to six years of imprisonment if the convicts have served at least one third of their sentence on the amnesty day. The amnesty will also be applicable to the underage, pregnant women, women and lonely men, who have children under 18, pensioners, first and second-degree disabled people, people ill with an active form of tuberculosis and oncological diseases of groups 2-4, HIV infected people at stage 3 and 4, who have committed minor offences. Vladimir Naumov said, arrest will be lifted from people, whose sentences are in effect on the amnesty day, as well as citizens with crimes committed through negligence if they have served at least one third of their sentence. The amnesty will also be granted to people, who committed property crimes (thefts, frauds, embezzlements, computer-assisted thefts) except for those who committed crimes as part of an organised criminal group. The amnesty will also be granted to convicts with less than one year of sentence left to serve.