30.04.09

Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov called for simplifying the pardoning procedure in Russia to make it more effective.

"One of the main problems is that the institution of pardoning, strange as it may seem, is facing competition from the institution of parole because the pardoning mechanism is quite bulky. An application for pardoning should go through several bureaucratic levels and only then will it reach the president," Konovalov said on Saturday.

"Before it happens, six months may pass and persons sentenced for minor crimes get released on parole," the minister said, adding that "parole is the niche that basically embraces pardoning".

"We are not sure that the mechanism cannot be simplified or the time period cannot be shortened so that people could file an appeal and get a reply," he said.

In addition, pardoning should apply to persons sentenced for grave crimes, which rarely happens now.

Konovalov also believes that pardoning should be available not only to persons sentenced for minor crimes. "In some cases persons commit grave crimes under hard circumstances. And there are many criminal cases in which crimes occurred because of the improper behavior of the victims. Lawyers and prosecutors come across such cases from time to time," he said.

"There are crimes bordering equally on different criminal articles. For example, a person has been sentenced for robbery even though it was actually an act of hooliganism. There was drunk brawl after which a person takes someone else's telephone. He will get six, eight or ten years for a robbery but could serve only two years and if he proves that he is not a convicted criminal he could apply for pardoning," the minister said.

"This institution needs to be developed, and we are discussing how to make it most effectively," he added.

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Source: Itar-Tass