RA NA ADOPTS DECISION ON ANNOUNCING AMNESTY
YEREVAN, JULY 7, NOYAN TAPAN. At the July 7 sitting, RA National
Assembly unanimously, with 84 votes, adopted the decision "On
Announcing Amnesty." RA President had applied to the parliament
with such a proposal in connection with the 15th anniversary of
RA independence.
The decision will come into force on the day following the official
publication and will be applied to persons having committed crimes
until June 1 of current year inclusive. The decision on amnesty is
subject to fulfilment until September 30 inclusive. As a result, it
is expected that over 300 convicts will be released. Most of them
will be persons setenced for crimes envisaging maximum 3 years’
imprisonment. Besides, persons towards which the penalty was not
conditionally applied or serving of the sentence was postponed, as well
as persons sentenced to punishments not connected with imprisonment
will be released. First or second group disabled sentenced to maximum 5
years’ imprisonment, persons who turn 60 until September 30 inclusive,
as well as persons having committed a crime before they were 18 and
not having served sentence connected with imprisonment earlier will
be released. The persons sentenced to 5 years’ imprisonment having
participated in the Great Patriotic War, fights for RA defence or
persons equalized to them will be released.
Persons not convicted before for committing a deliberate crime,
as well as those having convicted for committing a crime due to
carelessness will be released under some conditions.
With some exceptions, criminal cases being examined by investigation,
preliminary examination bodies and courts on crimes committed until
June 1 2006, as well as the non-served part of the sentence will
be quashed.
The decision on amnesty does not extend to persons having committed
grave and especially grave crimes, as well as to a number of
kinds of crimes not considered to be grave, in particular, illegal
deforestations, electoral falsifications, profanation of corpses
or places of burying. The amnesty will not extend, either, to those
having intentionally violating the order of serving sentence, to those
having committed a crime at a penitentiary institution, in cases of
repeated commission of especially dangerous crimes and in a number
of other cases.