The Armenian Parliament has approved President Serzh Sargsyan's
amnesty for the 20th anniversary of independence, Mediamax reports.
Nikol Pashinyan and Sasun Michaelyan, convicted for the "March 1"
case, will be released.
91 PMs voted for and o against the amnesty, one abstained.
Justice Minister Grayr Tovmasyan said that adjustments were made to
the amnesty text. Citizens convicted for involuntary murder that spent
a quarter of the sentence in prison may be released. An earlier
version of the document has term of one third. The terms of giving up
to the police have been extended. Amnesty does not concern citizens
that caused car accidents resulting in two deaths.
Tovmasyan said that the initiative has more goals than the amnesty of
March1, 2008. It is aimed at establishing new public relations,
improvement of the political dialogue, consolidation of society and
setting of the atmosphere of trust, he noted.
A set of members of the Armenian National Congress, an opposition
organization, may be released. They were convicted for disorders in
2008. They include the former MP Sasun Michaelyan and Editor-in-Chief
of Aykakan Zhamanak opposition paper Nikol Pashinyan. Leader of the
national congress Levon Ter-Petrosyan says the release is the basis
for a dialogue with the authorities.
The amnesty releases citizens convicted to 3 years of prison, with
suspended sentence and postponed sentence. handicapped citizens
convicted to five years of prison or aged over 60 will also be
released. Citizens convicted to sentences below 18 who have not been
put to prison will be pardoned. Pregnant women will be pardoned.
The document will concern veterans of the Great Patriotic War, the
Nagorno-Karabakh War or similar categories of citizens. It will also
affect families of dead soldiers. They will be released if they were
convicted to 5 or 9 years of prison if it's the first conviction.
Pardoning will not affect citizens who purposefully violated the
prison order, repeat offenders who purposefully committed crime and
criminals who caused mass material damage.
