Opposition wants amnesty of economic crime convicts to mark independence jubilee
MOSCOW. May 12 (Interfax) - Members of the three opposition factions in the State Duma - A Just Russia, the Communist Party and the Liberal Democratic Party - have proposed an amnesty on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Russia's independence.
The proposal was submitted to the State Duma, a source at the press office of the faction of A Just Russia told Interfax on Thursday.
"We propose an amnesty of those convicted of economic crimes if they did not do large damage to the country," proposal co-author Oleg Mikheyev (A Just Russia) told Interfax.
From 70,000 to 100,000 criminal cases are opened yearly on economic charges, but only 8% to 12% of them are brought to court, he said.
"In our opinion, the statistics show that the majority of people who catch the attention of detectives avoid prosecution," he said.
Bearing in mind liberalization of criminal laws and amendments alleviating criminal prosecution of economic crimes, it is necessary to take the next logical step and consider a possible amnesty of people convicted of economic misdemeanors, Mikheyev said.
"It is hard to tell to how many people this amnesty may apply; most probably, the number will be small," he said. However, such people will able to return to a normal life and do something good for society, he added.