Nearly 1200 prisoners released under amnesty law in Kazakhstan

Nearly 1,200 prisoners have been released in Kazakhstan under an amnesty program for the 25th anniversary of Kazakhstan’s independence, the Penitentiary System Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs said.

"Some 1,200 convicts have been released and another 2,269 had their prison terms reduced under the amnesty, which ended in mid June 2017," Interfax cited a report as saying.

Additionally, over 6,700 people who served their terms without being isolated from society and were registered with the probation services were released.

The amnesty has also affected 40 foreign citizens, mainly citizens from the CIS countries, the report said.

Some 1,300 citizens of CIS and non-CIS countries are now in Kazakh penitentiary establishments, the agency said.