Mom - amnesty

President Dmitry Medvedev's first amnesty did not please either the prisoners or the jailers. Only 60 veterans will be released

Several times a day, Tatyana, convicted from the 9th detachment of the Krasnoyarsk colony IK-22, takes off her prison uniform, puts on a dressing gown and goes to feed her four-month-old son Semyon. The baby is waiting for her at the orphanage. This is such a round-the-clock kindergarten at the colony, from which mothers take their children only when they are released. Tatyana was given 2.5 years for stealing goods from a warehouse. She committed the crime while in a position, and an escort took her to the maternity hospital in a paddy wagon. She has two more years to sit, and in a conversation, the woman told Newsweek that she really counts on an amnesty: “We follow the latest news.”

So far, Tatyana's hopes to be released under an amnesty have not materialized - the promised release by the 65th anniversary of the Victory has been canceled. "Mommies," as they are called in the colonies, remain seated.

RESPECT VETERANS

Anticipating the onset of a round date - 65 years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War - the deputies decided to exercise their right and grant amnesty to some of the Russian prisoners. All factions proposed their version of the amnesty, and United Russia offered two, one liberal and one not so much. In clashes with the presidential administration and public opinion, the number of amnestied people was reduced from 300,000 to 250 people. As a result, only war veterans, home front workers, prisoners of concentration camps and residents of besieged Leningrad will be released from prisons. There are about 60 people in total, and the youngest of them will be 70 years old.

In connection with the anniversaries of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, amnesty was announced three times: in 1995, 2000 and 2005. The first time 131,000 people were amnestied, the second 206,000. The last amnesty in 2005 was the smallest: only about 200 prisoners were released. Analysts say that under Vladimir Putin, the system has become increasingly rigid: pardons have become rare, and amnesties have lost their former scope.

The first version of the decree on amnesty from A Just Russia and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation was registered in the Duma on January 13. Co-author of the project Vera Lekareva says he was the most liberal - 250,000 prisoners were to be released. The next day, a similar project was proposed by the Liberal Democratic Party. The leader of the faction, Igor Lebedev, however, found it difficult to name the exact number of those released, but confirmed that it was planned to pardon much more than 60 people.

For several months, the forthcoming amnesty was discussed in the press, and the Federal Penitentiary Service has already begun to prepare for the release of prisoners. And no one was surprised when on March 22 a draft amnesty signed by 47 United Russia deputies and releasing 46,000 prisoners appeared in the newspapers. Among the articles for which they wanted to pardon, there were many economic ones. “We wanted to show respect for the veterans and at the same time relieve the burden on the investigating authorities and prisons,” says Andrei Nazarov, Krasheninnikov's deputy. But already on March 24, Pavel Krasheninnikov, head of the Duma Committee on Criminal Legislation, introduced an alternative draft that covered only 250 people. And the old deputies were suddenly recalled.

Deputy Vladimir Gruzdev signed the first United Russia draft and rather vaguely explains why he suddenly changed his mind: “Already after the introduction, we realized that it was impossible for everyone to whom we would like to mitigate the punishment to be included in the Victory Day amnesty.”

A Newsweek source in the Duma says that the final decision on the amnesty was made by the State Legal Department of the presidential administration. Initially, it planned to release only 40 people in honor of May 9. And the party initiative for a large-scale amnesty was simply overlooked in the Kremlin. Unexpectedly, the liberal project of "United Russia", and even hyped in the press, caused bewilderment in the Kremlin.

THERE WILL BE riots

On April 6, at a committee meeting, Pavel Krasheninnikov immediately reined in his colleagues in the Duma: “We agreed on a new project with the Ministry of Justice and the presidential administration and decided that we would amnesty only those who are related to the Second World War. This is 250 people, 60 of them will be released.” “Then we don’t have the right to celebrate the Victory, we didn’t participate in the war!” - Deputy Tatyana Moskalkova was indignant in response.

From the first draft of United Russia, all economic articles disappeared: petty theft and smuggling on a small scale. "In any case, the amnesty would not have affected Khodorkovsky," says one of the deputies who signed the bill. People convicted of stealing chickens or sausages in supermarkets would go free. Amnesty-2010 would definitely not affect those convicted under Articles 159 (“Fraud”) and 174 (“Legalization (laundering) of money acquired by criminal means”), although Dmitry Medvedev suggested that they no longer be imprisoned under these articles.

“What kind of incomprehensible staggering? We had to decide first!” - a high-ranking source of the Federal Penitentiary Service is perplexed in connection with the controversial position of the deputies. He believes that Krasheninnikov's project devalues ​​the very concept of amnesty: “This is not an amnesty, but an individual release. There were no more than two dozen participants in the war, several people were blockaders, one was a prisoner of the camps.

The Federal Penitentiary Service proposed to release more convicts in connection with the holiday: disabled people of the 1st and 2nd groups - Chernobyl victims, as well as prisoners who fought in hot spots. "This project is within the framework of the reform, but the parliament did not feel the mood in the penitentiary system," said Valery Borshchev, a member of the Moscow Helsinki Group.

Missed hopes - this is what human rights activists say about the amnesty for Krasheninnikov. Amnesty is not only an act of mercy, reminds Borshchev: "Amnesty has two important tasks: it can correct judicial errors and relieve tension in the colonies." According to him, both parties are interested in the amnesty - both the administration and the convicts, since most often people who have committed minor crimes, who would not even need to be imprisoned, fall under it.

“Amnesty is expected in the zones. At first, a large-scale release was promised, and then they said that only 200 people would fall under the amnesty. This destabilizes the situation,” says human rights activist Lev Ponomarev. Together with Lyudmila Alekseeva, he sent a special letter to President Dmitry Medvedev stating that the upcoming targeted amnesty is a mistaken and even dangerous decision. “There will be riots and discontent,” Ponomarev scares.

BRUSH YOUR TEETH

The current amnesty will bypass many old people. For example, 85-year-old convict Ivan Batalov, convicted of horse stealing in 1934 and escaping in 1941, did not fall under any Soviet amnesty. Because of his imprisonment, he did not fight, was healthy as a bull and spent almost his entire life behind bars, and in 1995 he completely went to a strict regime. Viktor Matveyushkin, chairman of the Council of Veterans of the Orenburg colony, says: “Batalov really wanted to go out and see how they live outside. He dreamed that they would give him an apartment, and the pioneers would brush their teeth. I answered him: they will clean it right at the station.

In addition to amnesty and parole (parole) for convicts, there is another chance to be released - this is a pardon. During its existence, the Presidential Pardon Commission, headed by the writer Anatoly Pristavkin, achieved mitigation of the fate of almost 70,000 people, thereby incurring the wrath of the security forces. “It was over the edge. Petitions were stamped in batches, ”the representative of the Federal Penitentiary Service is indignant. The era of mercy ended at the end of 2001, when President Putin signed a decree on the formation of regional commissions. Formally, pardon commissions operate in every region, but in fact the institution was destroyed, human rights activists assure.

In 2007, the prisoners sent 2,771 petitions to the president, but to no avail. The President has not signed a single pardon decree. At the same time, the number of prisoners in the colonies grew rapidly - up to 40,000 people a year. “Faith in pardon was undermined. And this was reflected in the mood of the convicts - they began to file petitions less, ”explains an employee of the department. In 2008, there were two pardon decrees. Last year, President Medvedev recalled the pardon - the terms for considering applications were reduced. As a result, 48 people were pardoned in 2009, and the same number in 2010.

“Pardon is used very rarely in our country, and this testifies to the cruelty of our society,” says Professor Yuri Antonyan. One of the reasons for the failure is bureaucratization. “The cases travel so long, they are considered in Moscow for so long, that it is easier for the convict to leave on parole,” explains Tatyana Radochina, a former member of the presidential pardon commission. According to her, an absolutely ridiculous obstacle may arise on the way to pardon, for example, the convict does not have a photocopy of the verdict.

But sometimes liberation is hindered not even by power, but by one's own naivety. A doctor from Cherepovets was convicted of taking a bribe - he wrote fake sick leave for 500 rubles. At the pardon commission, the wife complained that she was pulling two children alone, living in poverty. When asked by the chairman whether she was ready to guarantee that her husband would not commit such a crime again, the woman replied: “Fathers, what a crime this is! He helped people." The pardon was denied.