BY LUSINE MUSAYELIAN
STEPANAKERT (RFE/RL)—Authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh declared on Tuesday a general amnesty which they said will lead to the early release of about 20 percent of the prison population.
The Karabakh parliament approved a corresponding bill put forward by President Bako Sahakian.
Officials in Stepanakert refused to specify how many convicts will be set free as a result of the amnesty dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Karabakh’s declaration of independence from Azerbaijan. The total number of persons serving prison sentences in Karabakh is also not known.
The bill stipulates that the amnesty will not apply to individuals convicted of murder, rape, robberies and other grave crimes. It will mainly affect those sentenced to up to three years’ imprisonment or underage convicts.
Other prisoners serving longer sentences can have their jail terms cut by at least one-third if they participated in the 1991-1994 war or are related to individuals killed in the fighting.
Speaking in the parliament, Sahakian’s chief legal aide, Ara Lazarian, said the amnesty will also require local law-enforcement bodies to close at least 60 percent of pending criminal cases that have not yet been sent to courts and to free relevant criminal suspects. The cases relate to non-grave crimes committed before August 1.
I hope there’s a good rehabilitation program (i.e. jobs, education, etc) in place for these people. Don’t want a bunch of criminals running around going back to their old ways if there’s nothing else for them out there.
Nothing personal but it’s silly how negative Armenians can think about themselves. For get all that, in fact these negative thoughts are the reason why we advance slowly. If diaspora (INCLUDING ME) starts to move to Armenia and think of it not just in emotional level but as a real thing (Մասիս սար կամ նման բաներ) we will make Armenia the one we always have thought of.