The Russian Parliament plans to revise an amnesty bill dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Russian Constitution, which means opposition figure Aleksaey Navalny and activists jailed after the May 2012 Bolotnaya rally could miss out on a state pardon.
The State Duma’s committee on criminal law believes that in its
current form, the document fails to distinctly outline the
categories of prisoners falling under the amnesty.
“The number of articles of the Criminal Code, which the amnesty
[proposed by the Presidential Council for Human Rights] will
cover, is going to be narrowed down significantly,” an
unnamed source in the committee told Kommersant newspaper.
Deputies in the State Duma disagree with the Council of Human
Right’s proposal to free all first time offenders who have
received prison terms of less than three years.
The source reminded that in accordance with Article 64 of the
Criminal Code, titled “Appointment of a softer
punishment,” many Russian defendants received smaller charges
than provided by the Articles on which they were accused.
“It means that freedom will be granted to people convicted for
rape, assistance in terrorist activity, or possession and
distribution of drugs,” he said.
MPs want to make sure that Navalny - who received a five year
suspended sentence for embezzlement in October - and activists
accused of calling for mass unrest during the opposition rally at
Bolotnaya Square on May 6, 2012 do not escape responsibility, the
source stressed.
However, he said that Article 213 of the Criminal Code, titled
“Hooliganism,” will remain in the bill after the revision.
This means that members of the Pussy Riot punk band have good
chance of being released from jail.
The committee also disagrees with the notion of releasing
criminals who have received five to ten year terms and have
already served over half of their sentence.
In addition, it is fighting against releasing those who are
serving terms of over ten years and have two-thirds of those
terms behind them.
Committee members believe those actions would see “dangerous
recidivists who have numerous convictions” being granted
pardons.
The source especially stressed that all of those jailed for
terrorism will be excluded by MPs from the amnesty bill’s final
version.
Russian President Vladimir Putin tasked human rights activists
with putting together a draft bill for an amnesty dedicated to
the 20th anniversary of the country’s modern Constitution, which
will be celebrated on December 12, 2013.
In mid-October, the draft bill – which could see around 200,000
prisoners being pardoned – was approved by the Presidential
Council for Human Rights.