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Russian Communists to support amnesty for economic crimes

The State Duma committee for civil, criminal, arbitration and procedural legislation recommended the house to pass the resolution on Tuesday, July 2

MOSCOW, June 25 (Itar-Tass) - The Communist faction at the State Duma lower house of the Russian parliament will support the draft resolution on amnesty for economic crimes, submitted by the Russian president on Tuesday, KPRF leader Gennady Zyuganov told Itar-Tass.

Zyuganov confirmed that the faction would scrutinize the documents that had come from the head of state. "Actually, this decision is ripe; it has to be made," he said.

"It's another matter that the resolution on amnesty should set free the persons who have erred or miscalculated, who have not abused or have been prosecuted because of a lack of experience. But those, who thieved, raped and committed serious crimes, should not be eligible to amnesty," he underlined.

He said it was "routine practice" to introduce the mandatory condition committing the suspects to return property or reimburse damage to injured parties. "The faction is likely to support the resolution," Zyuganov said.

The State Duma committee for civil, criminal, arbitration and procedural legislation recommended the house to pass the resolution on economic amnesty on Tuesday, July 2.

Also on Tuesday, the Liberal Democratic Party /LDPR/ faction said it would support the president-proposed economic amnesty resolution, too. "We'll support it," leader of the LDPR faction Igor Lebedev said, adding that "business persons should work and pay taxes; /they/ shouldn't stay in prison."

Chairwoman of the house committee for security and combating corruption Irina Yarovaya said the persons who embezzled budget money should not be eligible for amnesty.

"However, the legislation does not define "a crime of corruption" at present. It is important to understand that special responsibility should be envisioned for the crimes involving embezzlement of budget money where national economic interests were violated," Yarovaya told a news conference on Tuesday.

The logic of the economic amnesty "exempts from responsibility for the crimes that do not have a high degree of public danger." At the same time, a proposal has been drawn calling for introducing penalties for theft of budget money and state corporation- and extra-budgetary funds."

The punishment for such crimes should be inevitable and tougher than for fraud. "Those who steal budget money should realize that the punishment will be severe. Fifteen years in prison would not be the harshest sanction for embezzling budget funds," Yarovaya added.