Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Dec. 5 / Trend D.Azizov /
During a plenary session on Wednesday, the Uzbek Senate adopted an amnesty act in connection with the 20th anniversary of the republic's Constitution.
Chairman of the Senate Committee for Legislation, Judicial and Legal Affairs Svetlana Artikova, who presented the draft law, stressed that firstly the amnesty should be applied to those whose crimes are not dangerous to society.
The adopted resolution states that women below the age of 18, men over 60 and foreign citizens will be amnestied.
In addition, the amnesty will cover invalids of the first and second groups, prisoners suffering serious illnesses, as well as those who committed a crime of negligence and sentenced for the first time.
Those who are convicted of involvement in terrorist organisations for the first time and not committed serious crimes will also be amnestied.
At the same time the amnesty will not apply to those sentenced to life in prison, convicted of murder and those committing particularly serious crimes.
The Senate resolution will take effect starting on the date of publication in the mass media.
The Uzbek Senate first adopted the Amnesty Act in 2005 in connection with the 13th anniversary of the Constitution.
The right to make a decision on amnesty was passed to the Senate by the head of state at the launch of a two chamber parliament in Uzbekistan in 2005. Previously it was the exclusive prerogative of the president.
Starting 2008, the amnesty decision is normally made by the courts in Uzbekistan.
The previous amnesty was announced in Uzbekistan last December in connection with the 19th anniversary of the Constitution. It covered more than 45,000 people according to the Senate Committee on Legislation, Judicial and Legal Affairs. In particular, 1,958,000 prisoners were released from serving a criminal sentence, or the prosecution against them was dismissed.