Penza, 15 August 2013. PenzaNews. Economic amnesty is a landmark event for Russia that knew no equals for several decades. This opinion was expressed by Karim Kuzakhmetov, an adviser to the governor of the Penza region on the right protection of Penza entrepreneurs, during a press conference on the implementation of the regulations of Russian State Duma from 2 July 2013 “On amnesty,” which was held on Thursday, August 15.

“The amnesty applies to 27 economic articles of the Russian Criminal Code. It will primarily spread on those convicted for the first time and repaying the losses to the injured parties,” he explained.

In turn, Prosecutor in charge of supervision of correctional and investigative activities of the prosecutor’s office of the Penza region Natalia Volchkova explained that prosecution was dismissed against five persons.

“These decisions on amnesty are being checked, final solution was not yet in place,” she added.

According to the prosecutor, the actions of these defendants were classified as “Illegal Enterprise” (Art. 171 of the Criminal Code) and “Lawless Actions in Case of Bankruptcy” (Art. 195).

“Criminal proceedings against these persons are dismissed because they repaid the losses. In addition, there are a number of cases that fall under the amnesty but they are still under investigation because the losses were not compensated,” Natalia Volchkova said.

Acting Head of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service in the Penza region, Alexander Kachkurkin noted that 6 prisoners formally fall under the amnesty.

“Two of them are in prison, four are on file of the criminal-executive inspection. All of them were interviewed and explained the procedure for applying to amnesty program. In addition, the requests were directed to the appropriate authorities for establishing if they have enforcement orders. If we receive confirmation that the losses are made up, the document will be sent to the prosecutor’s office for approval,” he said.

The implementation of country’s recently passed economic amnesty is carried out by regional offices of the Interior Ministry, the Federal Security Service of Russia and the Investigative Committee – at the stages of investigation; and by Russian Federal Penitentiary Service – in courts, at the stages of applying for cancellation of a criminal record, or serving the sentence in prisons and pre-trial detention centers.