More than 50 thousand convicts will be subject to amnesty for the 70th anniversary of the Victory. According to the initiative of Vladimir Putin, the measure will not affect those who have committed serious and especially serious crimes. However, Kommersant FM’s interlocutors are confident that a much larger number of people could have been released.

Photo: Dmitry Azarov, Kommersant / buy photo

About 60 thousand people will be subject to amnesty for the 70th anniversary of the Victory. Vladimir Putin submitted a draft resolution to the State Duma for consideration. According to the document, those who have been brought to criminal responsibility for the first time, as well as those who have served the country, can be released early. In particular, these are veterans of the war in Afghanistan and participants in the Chechen campaigns. The amnesty will affect convicted women, disabled people and minors. Previously, similar bills were proposed by deputies from A Just Russia, the LDPR and members of the Human Rights Council. Previous versions of the document could have freed more than 200 thousand people, noted First Deputy Chairman of the A Just Russia faction Mikhail Yemelyanov.

“It is positive that the president introduced his own version of the amnesty resolution, because this indicates that there will be an amnesty. We believe that the amnesty should be wider. Anyone connected with drug crimes should not be released, and corrupt officials should not be released. the president is supposed to release about 60 thousand. According to our resolution, it would be far over 200 thousand. But we, of course, will vote for the presidential project, because it is also good,” Emelyanov noted.

The amnesty will not affect those who have committed serious and especially serious crimes. As presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov noted, the document must undergo examination. Then it will become clear whether those involved in high-profile cases will be released early. The amnesty itself could have been more extensive, says human rights activist and member of the Moscow Helsinki Group Valery Borshchev.

“The amnesty is not large. In the 90s, when I was a deputy and prepared such amnesties myself, it covered more respectable groups. It is, of course, incomplete. Vasilyeva was mentioned. It seems to me that the nature of the punishment should be changed, the main punishment is financial, compulsory work. Thank God that at least such an amnesty, although, of course, 60 thousand will not work out, as always, much less,” Borshchev explained to Kommersant FM.

Lawyers for the Navalny brothers have already stated that they are exploring the possibility of early release for their clients. Evgenia Vasilyeva's defense attorney, Khasan Borokov, said that the defendant in the Oboronservis case does not need amnesty. According to him, she is subject to full acquittal and release. The draft amnesty resolution can be greatly changed, but this is unlikely to happen in anyone's interests. So says managing partner of the Legis Group Bar Association, Maxim Dobrovitsky.

“Of course, this is not what happened last year and the year before, when only businessmen were included, or there was a small amnesty, when only pregnant women, women with children, minors and several other categories of citizens were included, and that’s when Serdyukov. Now this is a larger-scale amnesty. Quite a long time ago, when the case against Vasilyeva was opened, there was a strong feeling that by the time the verdict was pronounced, there would be some kind of amnesty that would resolve this whole situation, we’ll see in the final version,” he said. Dobrovitsky.

A person involved in the case of the Falcon plane crash at Vnukovo-3, the driver of a snowplow, Vladimir Martynenko, may be eligible for an amnesty for the 70th anniversary of the Victory, his lawyer said.

Georgy Ustinov

"Amnesty should be wider"