Lukashenka still hasn’t sign amnesty law

The presidential administration recommends convicts to wait a couple of days.

The country has celebrated the Independence Day, but the amnesty 2012 which was supposed to take place at the same time with the holiday hasn’t yet begun, Euroradio reports.

“Today we should discuss the problems of the amnesty timed with the Independence Day,” Aliaksandar Lukashenka said during a meeting on the amnesty held on 12 June. “Many people, and first of all those who are in jails, wait for the new amnesty law.”

He demanded that the bill is prepared and passed by the “deputies” and “senators” as soon as possible. The bill was submitted to the “parliament” on 15 June, and on 27 June the bill was passed in two readings.

On 4 June the Department of the Execution of Punishments said that no amnesty law signed by Lukashenka has been submitted, which means that no convicts have been released.

For example, in 2010 a double amnesty was held dedicated to the 65-th anniversary of the Great Patriotic War Victory and Independence Day, and the amnesty laws were passed on 5 May and 1 July.

According to Lukashenka’s press-secretary Paval Liokky, the current delay is not related to external factors, and all necessary technical procedures are in place.

“This is a purely technological issue. Any law goes through different procedures: readings in the “chamber of representatives”, submission to the “council of the Republic”. Now all these procedures are being completed; the law is in the administration and Lukashenka will sign it soon,” Paval Liokky said.

The press-secretary of the Belarusian leader suggests convicts who long for the law behind the bars waiting “a couple of days”:

“It’s just a couple of days… Of course I understand those people… For them, every day is of extreme importance, but there is a technical procedure and we expect the whole thing to be done in the coming days.”

With other words, the law wasn’t returned to the “chamber” for changes; it is simply stuck in Lukashenka’s administration.