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Russian ombudsman welcomes bill on amnesty under which 22,000 might be released

NOVO-OGARYOVO, December 10. /ITAR-TASS/. The Russian human rights community has expressed different assessments of the proposed bill on amnesty, but it envisages that some 20,000-22,000 people will be released, which is a positive factor, Russian Human Rights ambassador Vladimir Lukin declared at a meeting that President Putin held with the human rights activists at his residence in Novo-Ogaryovo on Tuesday.

"I know there are different points of view on certain aspects of the proposed amnesty in the human rights community now, but I believe that either a release or a serious change in the fate of some 20,000-22,000 Russian citizens will be a serious plus," Lukin stressed.

Commenting on differences between the human rights activists, Lukin explained that "in practical life the point of view of the state and purely human, humanitarian interest do not always coincide." But, both human rights activists and the state power should defend the highest values of human rights and freedoms as stipulated in the Constitution. " In that sense their interests are identical," Lukin said.

The two main metaphors known in Russian literature- a tear drop in a child's eye and a horse reared up as in the Bronze Horseman sculpture (in St.Petersburg) are not easily associated together, but in the framework of our Constitution it is possible in principle," Lukin said.

The act of amnesty has been planned to coincide with the coming 20th anniversary of the Russian Constitution.

Terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall

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