'No amnesty' for people insulting head of state

The current law "On Amnesty" is different from those passed earlier by a number of new articles included in it. People who are found guilty under the new articles are not covered by the amnesty. According to the Head of Department for Supervision over the legality of penal punishment, General Prosecutor Yury Haroshka, it was done,  because in the last year is the number of such crimes increased.

"Why, for example, do we have a ban on parts 2-5 of the Article 228 (offenses related to distribution and consumption of drugs - Euroradio)? Because there has been a surge of crime in this area. Last year, we had a growth of murders - and we had a "forbidden" Article 139. Due to the negative developments in the field of sexual offenses against minors, we banned the article," said Yury Haroshka to the Euroradio reporter during a press conference on May 29.

Euroradio asked a representative of the Prosecutor General's Office, why the list of articles, which are not covered by the amnesty, still contain the ones under which the number of crimes has not increased? Why, as in the case of such an offense as an insult to the head of state, amnesty is not observed at all - there were no people convicted under it recently.

Mr Haroshka: "This is our statehood. We are guided by this. It is done to discipline the people. They live in our country, they must abide by our laws. And the president is elected ... by us! That's why I believe that it is normal that we have such a reaction for such crimes."

The amnesty also does not cover people guilty of "organizing mass disorder". It is under this article that ex presidential candidate Mikalai Statkevich was sentenced and is serving his term. "And if we add here that he is a malicious violator of discipline and was moved from colony to prison,  it means he will not get under amnesty twice," representative of the Prosecutor General's Office answers the follow-up question from the Euroradio reporter.

But the amnesty covers those who has fully compensated the damage. According to Head of the Department of Execution of Sentences of Ministry of Internal Affairs Zhana  Byturytskaya, last year such criminals paid a compensation of more than 10 billion rubles.

The "Amnesty Law" entered into force On May 29. According to it, about 8,600 convicts are to be freed from punishment, including 2.2 thousands kept in prisons. According to Yury Haroshka, the maximum rate of relapse among those amnestied is 10%.