A bill on amnesty has been submitted to the Belarusian parliament

On the instructions of the President of Belarus, the Government has submitted to the Parliament a draft law "On Amnesty in connection with the 80^th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War". The draft law retains the approaches successfully tested in the course of amnesties of previous years. At the same time, a number of innovations have been introduced. The list of persons fully exempted from punishment and other measures of criminal liability is supplemented by a new category of persons with certain diseases. It is also proposed that previously unconvicted persons who have reached the age of 70 and have been sentenced to imprisonment for a term of up to six years inclusive be given a milder punishment. According to preliminary calculations, almost 8.000 convicts will fall under the amnesty.