DUSHANBE (TCA) — The lower house of the parliament of Tajikistan on August 24 passed a new law on mass amnesty proposed by Tajik President Emomali Rahmon last week in honor of the 25th anniversary of the country’s independence, Avesta news agency reported.
According to the adopted law, the amnesty will affect over 12 thousand people.
More than three thousand inmates will be released from penitentiaries and more than four thousand people with suspended sentences and sentences not linked to jail terms will be fully amnestied under the amnesty law.
In addition, the prison terms of more than five thousand people will be shortened and ongoing or pending investigations against them halted.
Women, teenagers, men older than 55, and veterans of wars and military operations will also be eligible for the amnesty.
Those convicted of serious crimes such as murder, terrorism, religious extremism, and other similar crimes will not be subject to the amnesty.
The amnesty was proposed to honor the 25th anniversary of Tajikistan’s independence that will be marked on September 9.
The previous mass amnesty in Tajikistan was declared in 2014 to honor the 20th anniversary of the country’s Constitution, releasing 10 thousand convicts. The amnesty in 2011, in honor of the 20th anniversary of Tajikistan’s independence, released 15 thousand convicts, Avesta news agency reported.
