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Putin likely to pardon former senior lawmaker, but it needs time — Kremlin

Human rights activist Lyudmila Alekseyeva said that at a meeting with her earlier on Thursday Putin had promised to pardon Igor Izmestyev

Igor Izmestyev Valery Sharifulin/TASS

Igor Izmestyev

© Valery Sharifulin/TASS

YOSHKAR-OLA, July 20. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin does not rule out that former member of the Federation Council (upper house of parliament) Igor Izmestyev will be pardoned, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

"Yes, the president has said it is possible but needs time," Peskov said.

Read also

Putin pardons Russian woman convicted of high treason

Human rights activist Lyudmila Alekseyeva, a founding member and chairwoman of the Moscow Helsinki Group, Russia’s oldest human rights group, said that at a meeting with her earlier on Thursday Putin had promised to pardon Izmestyev.

In December 2010, the Moscow City Court handed a life imprisonment to Igor Izmestyev, a former member of the Federation Council from Bashkiria (located between the Volga River and the Ural Mountains). He was charged with plotting a series of murders and an arson of printing works in the Chelyabinsk region, tax evasion and attempt to bribe an FSB security officer.

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