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Duma sticks to no amnesty for planners of mass disorders

This follows rejection of a previous demand for amnesty for those convicted of using force against representatives of law and order

MOSCOW, December 18. /ITAR-TASS/. Amnesty should not be granted to those organizing mass disorder, Russian deputies have ruled.

The State Duma lower house of parliament has turned down an amendment from A Just Russia faction's Dmitry Gudkov arguing that the presidential bill on amnesty should also cover those responsible for civil unrest punishable under Article 212, part 1 of Russia's penal code.

"We regard the proposed amendment as excessive," said Pavel Krasheninnikov, head of the Duma committee overseeing civil, criminal, arbitration and procedural law.

This follows rejection of a previous demand for amnesty for those convicted of using force against representatives of law and order.

Deputies have backed the committee's call to reject clemency for those convicted for terrorism-related offences, sex crimes against adolescents and crimes linked with abuse of office, notably when these cases involve torture and violence.

But they decided that amnesty should apply to those convicted for involvement in acts of mass unrest under the penal code's Article 212, parts 2 and, 3, and hooliganism covered by Article 213.

This would allow amnesty for demonstrators convicted after the Bolotnaya Square political protests in Moscow. Greenpeace activists who stormed the Russian oil platform from aboard the vessel Arctic Sunrise would also be covered.