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DUSHANBE, July 27 (Itar-Tass) – More than 15,000 convicts will be released from jails in Tajikistan on the occasion of the 20th anniversary since this country’s independence, says a bill on amnesty that President Emomali Rakhmon submitted to the national parliament as a legislative initiative.
The government news agency Khovar quoted an official comment by the presidential administration as saying “the amnesty shall embrace the underage convicts, the male convicts aged 55 years old and older, the disabled of all the three categories, the veterans of World War II and the veterans of local wars equaled in status to them, the individuals who took part in eliminating the aftermath of the 1986 nuclear disaster in Chernobyl, and the convicts serving terms for small offenses.”
The amnesty bill also presupposes release from jails of members of illegal religious associations and parties who were convicted for extremist activities for up to five years and who have served three-fourths of their jail terms, except for the people convicted for murders, terrorism, extremism, subversive acts, and other heinous crimes.