State Duma announces economic amnesty

The State Duma lower house of the Russian parliament approved the first reading of the draft resolution on economic amnesty. The document was supported by 295 legislators from the United Russia and A Just Russia factions, with one abstention. The Liberal Democratic Party /LDPR/ and Communist factions did not take part in the voting. The final reading of the document will be considered later in the day after discussion of the amendments, including those suggested by LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky. "We've brought forward amendments. One of them is that the amnestied go to the Far East for permanent residence. The second amendment is to take out Article 159 /fraud/ from the draft resolution because this cannot be corrected," he explained. The president submitted the draft resolution on amnesty on June 25. It calls for amnestying the persons who are being prosecuted or were convicted for crimes in the field of entrepreneurship, or for other crimes the first time, as well as for dropping their criminal prosecution. The amnesty applies to persons convicted under 27 articles of the penal code, including copyright law violations, illegal entrepreneurship and banking, fraud, money laundering, tax evasion and non-repayment of loans. It also applies to the persons who were given suspended sentences or are on parole. The mandatory condition for qualifying for amnesty is meeting the obligation to return property or reimburse damages. Those who committed crimes with use of violence or threats of violence are not eligible.