The 2013 amnesty in Russia was significant. Firstly, it is a jubilee one, and secondly, many scandals and rumors were associated with the upcoming release of some of the convicts or people under investigation. However, most of them were in vain, tk. at the legislative level, a list of those who fall under the amnesty has been approved. And it is mandatory and completely non-variable.
Amnesty is a measure that is applied by a decision of a state authority to persons who have committed crimes. Its essence lies in the complete or partial release from punishment or the replacement of the punishment with a milder one. In Russia throughout its recent history, according to experts and historians, the amnesty was carried out 14 times. Of these, 5 on the occasion of the war in the Caucasus, 4 on various anniversaries.
The amnesty that was announced for the 20th anniversary of the Russian Constitution was called broad. And this is due, first of all, to the fact that the list of those awaiting pardon is much larger than in previous years.
One of the rumors about why the amnesty is so wide was the myth of prison overcrowding. Another option that was voiced was the unfairness of the sentences.
Who fell under the amnesty 2013
In July 2013, the President of the Russian Federation signed a document according to which those convicted under 27 economic articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation were to be released. This means that people convicted under the articles "Credit fraud" and "Business fraud" should have been the first to be released.
It was most of the indulgences in the economic sphere that gave rise to rumors that this whole amnesty was started to whitewash the former Russian Defense Minister A. Serdyukov, who was under investigation at that time.
All those in prison for non-violent crimes were also to be released. According to statistics, of those already convicted, about 1,300,000 people fell under the amnesty, and of those who were in jail, 25,000.
The lists of potential amnesties include those who have committed minor and moderate crimes. Minors, women with young children, pregnant women, women over the age of 55, retired men, as well as disabled people of 1-2 groups and those who were conditionally convicted could be released in this category.
Many observers and human rights activists noted that the news of the great amnesty came simultaneously with reports that the FSIN was asking to increase the number of available pre-trial detention centers in Russia.
What are the main difficulties associated with amnesty
On the one hand, amnesty is considered an act of humanism, which allows people who have stumbled and who have already partially served their sentences (even those who have not been convicted have already been punished by being in jail) to receive forgiveness and be released early.
However, experts argue that there are certain difficulties in connection with such a wide scale. For example, in Russia there are no programs for the rehabilitation of former prisoners. Accordingly, people who have been locked up for some time simply feel cut off from the world, even when they are free.
Many cannot cope with the feeling of their own lack of demand, and it is no secret that former prisoners are not particularly willing to hire, therefore the number of relapses is quite high. And in this case, they begin to wonder if amnesty is such a great benefit.