NUCLEAR POWER IN BELARUS AND WORLDWIDE
MINSK, 18 May (BelTA) – Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko signed the bill passed by the parliament on amnesty on occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 into law, BelTA learned from the press service of the head of state.
Amnesty is a manifestation of the state's humanism towards citizens who have committed crimes and is generally declared in connection with particularly memorable events in the history of the country.
The amnesty will apply to: minors, pregnant women, women and single men who raise children under 18, persons of retirement age, disabled people of the I and II group, combat veterans, persons wounded during the military service, victims of the Chernobyl disaster, as well as some other categories. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, there will be about 5,400 such people.
Certain categories of convicted persons who are not subject to full exemption from criminal liability will have their term of imprisonment or restriction of liberty commuted by one year. The number of such persons will make up about 6,400 people. In view of the Victory's 75th anniversary date, being guided by a humane approach, the list of such persons has been expanded to include citizens convicted of corruption offenses and offenses related to illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances (with the exception of adults convicted of drug offenses committed as part of an organized group or with the use of laboratory equipment, or resulting in death).
The amnesty does not allow for a situation where the interests of a stable legal order and public security may be jeopardized. Therefore, the law clearly defines the list of categories of criminals who are not subject to the amnesty. The list includes persons who have committed offenses against the state, murder, the offenses causing grievous bodily harm that led to death, sex crimes, and other crimes that are characterized by high danger to the public (including violation of traffic regulations while intoxicated, which lead to death or grievous bodily harm). The amnesty will also not apply to persons who intentionally committed new crimes after previous amnesties or pardon, did not compensate for damage, did not return illegally obtained income, did not prevent highly dangerous repetition of offense, or are badly violating the sentence enforcement procedure.
The amnesty will not apply to persons whose death sentence was commuted to imprisonment or a life sentence as a leniency, those who got a shorter prison sentence instead of a life sentence, and persons serving a life sentence.
The amnesty is set to be implemented within six months after the law comes into force by the bodies and agencies enforcing the punishment, criminal prosecution agencies, and courts.
