DUSAHNBE, September 28, Asia-Plus - 3,070, including 150 women, had been released under Tajikistan’s amnesty law by September 2, according to the penal system department of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).  

Pulod Alibakhshev, the head of penal system department staff, says some other 50 prisoners will be released within the next few days that will conclude the process of full amnesty.  According to him, amnestied prisoners are being released in stages after a review of their cases.  

Alibakhshev added that a part of prisoners had been granted partial amnesty, when the prisoner’s sentence term reduces.  “The partial amnesty procedure is still under way,” Alibakhshev said, noting that 1,229 prisoners have been granted partial amnesty so far.  

According to the MoJ, before adoption of the RT Law “On Amnesty” some 12,000 prisoners were serving their sentences in jails in Tajikistan.  

The amnesty applies to veterans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, elderly, young and sick prisoners who are serving sentences for minor crimes.  The amnesty does not apply to persons serving their sentences for serious and especially serious crimes, as well as for killing two and more people, recidivists or those who committed crimes in prisons.