Bill on amnesty in connection with 80th anniversary of Victory submitted to Belarus' Parliament

Upon the instruction of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, the government has submitted to parliament a bill "On amnesty in connection with the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War", the press service of the Belarusian leader informs.

The bill retains the approaches successfully tested during the amnesties of the past years (four amnesties have been declared in Belarus over the past five years). At the same time, a number of innovations are envisaged.

• The list of persons to be completely released from punishment and a criminal liability will be expanded to include people diagnosed with certain diseases.

• Also, first-time offenders aged 70 and over who got a jail term of up to six years will be replaced by lighter sentence in the form of restriction of freedom and they will not be sent to open prisons.

• Instead of a full amnesty, a partial amnesty shall be applied in the form of a one-year reduction of punishment to persons convicted of reckless crimes resulting in the death of a person

• In respect of the majority of convicted persons, the main conditions for the application of the amnesty envisaged by the bill are full compensation for the harm (damage) caused by the crime committed, as well as a positive characteristic of the person during the period of serving the sentence.

According to preliminary estimates, almost 8 thousand convicts will be eligible for the amnesty.