The amnesty includes those categories of convicted persons that are designated in a special resolution adopted by the State Duma of the Russian Federation. The amnesty itself consists in the complete release from serving the sentence or in its mitigation.
Russian criminal law provides for several types of exemption from criminal liability, from punishment of those persons who have already been found guilty on the basis of a court sentence that has entered into legal force. One of the most significant types of such release is amnesty, which results in the most massive release of prisoners who have been sentenced to imprisonment in various correctional institutions. To fall under the act of amnesty, one or more criteria must be met, which are indicated as sufficient grounds for the release of the convicted person from punishment.
In what order is the amnesty announced?
The announcement of amnesty in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is carried out by the lower house of parliament - the State Duma of Russia. This announcement is issued by a special decree, which provides specific criteria for the selection of prisoners who fall under this amnesty. This type of release from serving a sentence is applied to an indefinite circle of persons, therefore, it is impossible to find the specific names of the convicts for whom the said act was issued in the decree on the announcement of the amnesty. However, it may indicate the types of crimes, other objective criteria (gender, age, presence of diseases), in the presence of which a person is subject to release from liability. More than half of the votes of the deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation are sufficient for the adoption of a resolution on amnesty.
What is the amnesty?
By no means always amnesty consists in complete release from serving a sentence of imprisonment. Thus, this act can be applied to persons who have already been released on other grounds, from whom a criminal record will be removed, which will entail the abolition of other negative consequences for former prisoners, speed up and simplify their adaptation to normal life. For some categories of persons, the amnesty decree may not provide for a complete release from serving a sentence, but a decrease in its remaining term, an improvement in conditions of detention, and a replacement for a milder type of liability. Finally, some prisoners do not fall under the full amnesty, but they are exempted from an additional type of liability (for example, a fine), which is imposed along with imprisonment for many categories of unlawful acts.
