First businessmen to be released under amnesty in several days

(Interfax – MOSCOW. July 3, 2013) Convicts eligible for the economic amnesty, which comes into effect on July 4, will be released in several days because the procedure of releasing convicts under amnesty is held in several stages, spokesperson of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service Kristina Belousova said.

“From the day the amnesty comes into effect, head of a correction or detention facility prepares an individual set of documents for a certain individual. These are convict’s personal file and other documents necessary to confirm his matching the requirements of the resolution on amnesty,” Belousova told Interfax on Wednesday.

The materials gathered are then sent to regional prosecutor’s office, Belousova said.

“The release of a convict is also individual under the resolution approved by head of a correction or detention facility on the day the document is returned to the facility,” Belousova said.

This procedure “is taking certain time,” Belousova said.

“However, as the practice of previous amnesties showed, subdivisions of the Federal Penitentiary Service are taking all the measures so that the process of releasing amnestied convicts went as fast as possible,” Belousova said.

Rossiyskaya Gazeta has told Interfax that the economic amnesty would come into effect on July 4, when relevant resolution of the Russian State Duma is published in the newspaper.

Around 10,000 people will be released under the amnesty, which is to last six months.

[featured image is file photo of Russian jail exterior, not necessarily directly related to article subject]