Lukashenka signs amnesty bill

Alexander Lukashenka has signed an amnesty bill which is timed with 65 years since Belarus was liberated during the WWII. The Belapan news agency reports that the amnesty will not be an all-out measure. Traditionally, those who did not commit grave crimes and those who have less than one year to serve their term in prison would be released.

The amnesty will not be applied to those who had been freed on amnesty or pardon but committed a crime again. It will not free top criminals, graft receivers, gangsters as well as those who were sentenced to life in prison and those wanted by the Interpol.

Belarus' acting interior minister Anatol Kuliashou said nearly 4500 people would be freed under the amnesty bill.