The Parliament of Georgia adopted the amnesty law in the first reading with 82 votes pro. The second and third readings of the bill are scheduled for the fall session.

Lawyer Gvantsa Zhorzholiani said in air of the radio "Commersant" that under the bill approximately 5,000-5,500 convicts may be released or will have their sentences commuted. Apart from that, under the amnesty probationary detention term will be reduced by one year for 7000 convicts.

“It is difficult to say the exact figure of who will be released and who will have their sentence commuted, but, by my count, 5,000-5,500 prisoners will fall under the amnesty,” says Gvantsa Zhorzholiani.

Who does the amnesty apply to?

The subject of greatest interest is who is eligible fo amnesty if the law is adopted.

According to Gvantsa Zhorzholiani, convicts who are serving a sentence for theft, purchase and sale of property obtained through crime, fake credit cards production, abuse of authority, purchase, storage and carrying of firearms, combat equipment, hooliganism and purchase, storage, transportation of narcotics, consumption and sale of cannabis etc will be completely exempt from liability.

“Convicts who are in prison for serious or less serious injury to health are fully exempt from liability (Article 122).

It’s worth mentioning that the articles we are talking about refer to crimes committed under the first part. For severe categories, the amnesty does not provide for exemption from punishment, but reduces prison terms by ½, or ¼, or 1/6.

Convicts who are serving a sentence for theft, receiving property obtained through crime, forgery - making false documents or certain items, bribery of professional competitions or contests, making fake credit cards, abuse of power in leadership, firearms

purchase-storage-carrying of combat equipment, hooliganism and purchase, storage, transportation of narcotic drugs will be fully released. But the law directly says that this does not apply to drug dealers and manufacturers of narcotic drugs (the same applies to the purchase and storage of psychotropic drugs, but the law does not apply to their manufacturers). A prisoner for injury to health during an accident will also be fully released but the victim's consent is necessary. Convicts who are serving a sentence for the consumption and sale of cannabis will also leave prison.

7,000 probationers  are serving a suspended sentence. It is difficult to specify who will be freed and whose prison term will be reduced, but by my count, the amnesty law will cover 5000-5500 prisoners", says Gvantsa Zhorzholiani.

According to the lawyer, this is the first time that the prison term is reduced by 1/6 under the amnesty while probationary detention term by one year. Gvantsa Zhorzholiani explains this by a large-scale amnesty.

“Amnesty falls in two categories- - exemption from punishment and reduction of the prison term by ½, ¼ and 1/6. In the frames of a large-scale amnesty, it’s the first time the sentence is reduced by 1/6 and probationary detention term by one year. This applies to those who are not in a penitentiary institution and serve a suspended sentence. The amnesty covers about 7,000 such beneficiaries," Gvantsa Zhorzholiani notes.

Who will not be granted amnesty?

Gvantsa Zhorzholiani points out that the amnesty does not apply to those convicts and prisoners for premeditated murder and negligent homicide; sexual crimes, robbery; terrorism, trafficking as well as illegal drug trade and other serious crimes that carry life imprisonment.