2 126 persons amnestied

According Zhana Baturytskaya, head of the regime work department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as a result of the law on amnesty whose implementation came to an end on 7 November, 2 126 persons were released from closed penitentiary institutions of Belarus.

383 of the released persons are under-aged, pregnant women, single parents, men over 60 and women over 55 years old, people ill with tuberculosis, oncologic illnesses, etc.

58 of the released people had been convicted for the crimes that didn’t present a large social threat. 560 of the released were sentenced to less than six years of imprisonment and served one fourth of their sentence till enforcement of the law on amnesty.

194 persons were freed from arrest. 37 of the released had committed crimes on negligence, mainly car accidents. Less than a year of imprisonment was left to 798 of the released persons.

The prison terms were reduced by a year to 9 345 persons.

162 women were released from women’s colonies. The prison terms were reduced by a year to 991 women. 159 minors were release from children’s colonies and prison terms were reduced by a year to 255 minors.

As a result of the amnesty the scale of financial compensation for the harm done by criminals reached 5 812 000 069 000 rubles. During the previous amnesty this number was 1.5 billion rubles. ‘Thus, this amnesty was beneficial for the victims’, said Baturytskaya. According to her, in some cases the prisoners’ relatives took bank loans to pay the means necessary for getting the convicts amnestied.

‘Those who were getting obligatory treatment against dipsomania could be granted parole only after completion of the treatment course. The number of such persons is insignificants,’ she added.