Draft amnesty applies to first time offenders – Kremlin

(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 25, 2013) The economic amnesty will apply to persons first indicted or convicted of economic crimes.

They will be released from custody and their criminal cases probed by investigative authorities and courts will be closed.

The rule is established by draft resolutions of the State Duma on the economic amnesty and regulations for the fulfillment of the State Duma resolution on the economic amnesty submitted to the lower house by President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.

The explanatory note to the documents says the drafts “contained a full list of applicable crimes.”

“Property return or compensation for losses is a mandatory condition for the amnesty of suspects and defendants,” says the report posted on the Kremlin website. “This condition is set for persons whose criminal cases are being heard in court or are under preliminary investigation and persons whose sentences have entered into force,” the note runs.

The amnesty will apply to convicts, persons with suspended sentences and persons released on parole, it said. “Pursuant to the drafts, the amnesty will apply not only to convicts but also to persons with non-custodial and suspended sentences and persons released on parole,” it said.

Also, the draft resolutions submitted by the president regulate procedures for the release of amnestied persons from custody and termination of their criminal cases.