MPs representing the Communist Party of the Russian Federation have drafted a bill proposing a major amnesty in relation to the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution, citing a boost to the authority of state power as the main reason.
“The proposal is based on historical traditions of Russian statehood and has the purpose of strengthening the authority of the state power,” reads the note attached to the bill.
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The sponsors of the motion propose that the amnesty should be applied to convicts who participated in combat defending Russia, those who worked on defense enterprises in times of war and also those who served in the Soviet and Russian military forces deployed on the territory of foreign states in times of military conflict – in particular, the Soviet military contingent in Afghanistan.
The last time Russia announced a nationwide capital amnesty was in 2015, in connection with the 70th anniversary of the victory in the Second World War. According to the Federal Service for Execution of Punishment, about 225,000 convicts were released from custody or had other punishments lifted under the amnesty.
In September this year, the nationalist-populist party LDPR presented its own bill proposing a major amnesty in connection with the centenary of the second 1917 revolution. The LDPR draft offers amnesty to underage convicts and adults who committed their crimes before coming of age, disabled persons, mothers with small children, pregnant women and older citizens – women over 55 and men over 60.
The parliament has not yet looked into this proposal.
