DUSHANBE, July 28, 2011, Asia-Plus – On Wednesday July 27, President Emomali Rahmon sent a draft law on amnesty on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Tajikistan’s Independence for consideration to the lower house (Majlisi Namoyandagon) of the parliament, according to presidential press service.

The bill was drafted by the working group that consisted of representatives from president’s executive office and relevant ministries and agencies of the country.

The 2011 amnesty will apply on female convicts, elderly, minors and sick prisoners, who were serving sentences for minor crimes, as well as veterans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, participants in the cleanup operation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and holders of decorations of the Soviet Union and Tajikistan.

The amnesty will also apply on members of political parties, public associations and illegal religious organizations who were sentenced to five years in prison as well as persons who were sentenced to more than five years in prison and have served two thirds of their terms.  

The amnesty also applies on participants in armed events of 1997 in Khatlon province, Dushanbe, Hisor, Shahrinav and Tursunzoda as well as armed clash of 1998 in Sughd province if they have served half their sentences.

The amnesty excludes those serving sentences for serious crimes such as terrorism and extremism, killing two and more people, recidivists or those who committed crimes in prison.

In all, more than 15,000 people are expected to fall under the 2011 amnesty and more than 4,000 prison inmates will be released, the source said.

We will recall that the last amnesty law was adopted in Tajikistan in November 2009 on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of Tajikistan’s Constitution, which is marked on November 6, and Year of Imam Azam in Tajikistan.  The amnesty applied on a certain categories of prison inmates and citizens whose criminal cases were still under investigation and in courts.

The previous amnesty, which marked the 10th anniversary of the end of the civil war in Tajikistan, was announced in Tajikistan in June 2007 and 6,731 people were released under the amnesty announced in June 2007.