Amnesty in Russia may apply to some 100,000 people - head of Human Rights Council
NOVO-OGARYOVO. Dec 4 (Interfax) - The general amnesty dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the Russian constitution can apply to some 100,000 people, head of the Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights Mikhail Fedotov has said.
"According to the council's estimates, approximately 100,000 people are in question," he said to reporters on Wednesday.
Nevertheless, human rights commissioner Vladimir Lukin said that there are estimates according to which 30,000-50,000 people could qualify for the amnesty. "But let us see," he said.
Fedotov said that places of confinement currently have a population of some 670,000, with about 110,000 of them in detention facilities.
Lukin said that the first convicts may be released before New Years but in practice an amnesty is carried out over a period of several months,
Fedotov added that the amnesty will apply to people convicted for nonviolent crimes.
Asked whether the amnesty could apply to Greenpeace activists Fedotov said that the amnesty can apply to individuals sentenced for hooliganism, if it does not cause grave irreversible consequences.
