Human rights activists criticize amnesty bill

Deputies of the lower chamber of the Belarusian “parliament” adopted an amnesty bill at the first and the second readings on October 24. In case the law is adopted before 1 November 2007, the amnesty can be held in the beginning of 2008.

According to the amnesty bill, more than 2,500 people can be exonerated - 1,700 people imprisoned in closed regime colonies and 850 prisoners of open regime.

At the same time, exoneration requires meeting certain demands. For example, the prisoner must make up for the damage caused by the crime. Moreover, the bill touches upon those sentenced to max 6 years, in case they will have passed not less than a third of the sentence for the day that the law comes into force.

According to deputy leader of the Belarusian Social and Democratic Party (Gramada) Igar Rynkevich, the norms of the bill “will not be valid for Kazulin, Dashkevich, Klimau. Klimau has already been amnestied; this is a general norm that he cannot be amnestied twice. As for Kazulin, he hasn’t passed a third of his term yet. And there are other points.”

Igar Rynkevich emphasized that the Belarusian democratic community has elaborated a petition offering changes that would make the law applicable for political prisoners. The petition was planned to be passed to the “deputies”, “but they adopted the law at once, in two readings, with no changes made. They adopted the bill written by lawyers of the president’s administration. The deputies have swallowed what the executive power planned.”

Assistant chairperson of the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) Andrei Bastunets believes that the amnesty “gives the Belarusian authorities an opportunity to show good will and release political prisoners,” which the authorities ignore.

Andrei Bastunets is convinced the Belarusian criminal penalty is too rigid.

“Too many people experience it and go to prisons. Belarus comes high in the countries’ rate of the number of prisoners for 100 thousand citizens,” the expert says.

In BAJ assistant chairperson’s view, it would be more efficient “to improve the legislation mitigating it so that there would be no need to conduct amnesties and empty overfull prisons.”

It’s common in many countries to hold amnesties, Vice Chairperson of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee Harry Pahanyaila told “Deutsche Welle”:

“From time to time, before a significant date or with some other occasion, such an act is adopted on behalf of the state as the amnesty law. Our courts hide many people in jails, so this procedure is held once every two years. Earlier, with other laws, 10-13 thousand people were amnestied.”

Every year the contents of the amnesty law - those the law applies for, terms and the way of exercising - are changed, Harry Pahanyaila says.

Meanwhile, at present in Belarus about 38 thousand people are imprisoned: 50 percent are charged with crimes against property and for violation of the order of commercial activity.

According to Harry Pahanyaila, the present bill is “one of the poorest,” as it is to concern a limited number of people and “is not to touch upon those who are spoken much about - political prisoners.”

In Belarus amnesty was held for the last time about two years ago, and was dedicated to the 60th anniversary of liberation of Belarus from Nazis. That was the sixth amnesty initiated by Belarus’ president Aliaksandar Lukashenka. The new amnesty bill is to pass two more stages - parliament’s upper chamber and the president’s table.