20 November 2007, 21:11
President of Georgia to amnesty over thousand inmates on the anniversary of "Revolutions of Roses"
Amnesty of more than 1200 inmates convicted of minor crimes has been announced in Georgia on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the "Revolution of Roses".
The amnesty was suggested by President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili and approved by the Parliament, the Radio Liberty reports. Meanwhile, the "Gazeta.ru" remarks that the law on amnesty will be approved by the Parliament within three weeks. However, the Committee for Legal Issues of the Parliament of Georgia has already begun working on the bill.
Speaker of the Parliament Nino Burdzhanadze has noted that the bill should be considered under the accelerated procedure, so that to be approved next week, otherwise the amnestied prisoners would not be able to get home before 2008, the IA Regnum informs.
Should the bill be approved, 1200 prisoners will be released from custody within a month, and terms will be reduced for two thousand other convicts.
The amnesty refers to 50 Articles of the Criminal Code of Georgia. According to President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili, the amnesty will not cover the state officials criminated of corruption.
According to official data, by mid-2007 Georgia counted over 18,000 inmates.
