Ukraine Parliament Grants Amnesty to 17,000+ Prisoners

KIEV, Ukraine -- The parliament has granted amnesty to over 17,000 prisoners. The relevant draft law entitled "On Amnesty," which is registered as No. 5629-2 and was proposed by President Viktor Yuschenko, was approved by 286 votes. Only 226 votes were required for its approval.

Yuschenko proposed granting amnesty to prisoners who were minors when they committed their crimes, parents with minors or disabled children, pregnant women, women over the age of 50 and men over the age of 55, war veterans, group 1-3 invalids, prisoners with active tuberculosis, prisoners with oncological illnesses, and those infected with AIDS.

The law provides for releasing people convicted of small crimes and crimes of medium severity as well as those convicted of serious crimes if they have served half of their prison terms. The amnesty also provides for reducing the prison terms of prisoners.

According to the law, the amnesty does not apply to persons serving life sentences, prisoners with two or more convictions, those who violated prison regimes, and those whose crimes resulted in the deaths of two or more people. No prisoners were amnestied in 2004.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the parliament approved a new version of the law on amnesty that included proposals by former president Leonid Kuchma in July 2003. According to the Ukrainian Constitution, amnesty is granted through adoption of a law of Ukraine.

The law entitled "On Application of Amnesty in Ukraine" was approved in October 1996. This law stipulates that the parliament has the right to adopt a law on amnesty not more than once per year.

Source: Ukrainian News Agency