Garry Pogonaylo: Lukashenka has no money to build new jails

The amnesty is mere evidence to the fact that Belarusian prisons are filled very quickly. Chairperson of the legal commission of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee Garry Pogonaylo said:

- The amnesty will be carried out for those who either are imprisoned, or were sentenced to other penalties, or are under investigation. The amnesty has nothing to do with any other political sphere but the sphere of criminal law.

According to Pogonaylo, the Belarusian powers practice amnesty quite often, about once in two years, which indicates that prisons are filled very quickly, Zavtra Tvoyey Strany reports.

- The state has no money to build more prisons and to provide for prisoners. On the other hand, this way the powers make a reproach to the courts for far too frequent and sometimes unnecessary prison sentences.

The law on amnesty solves the problems of budget savings and overpopulation in prisons. According to various forecasts, about 10% of prisoners can be released. As for now, there are approximately 60 thousand convicts in the country. Among those likely to be released there are convicts who serve their sentences in reformatories, who were sentenced to fines, community work or got suspended sentences.

Garry Pogonaylo said:

- Convicts who serve their first prison sentence (the imprisoned anarchists are among them) can get their prison terms reduced by one year. People charged for the events of 19 December 2010 are in prisons - Mikalay Statkievich, for example. But they have already been involved in other criminal trials, sentenced to prison and amnestied, which can be mentioned in the law draft. This fact can aggravate their situation.