Azerbaijan, Baku, May 6 / Trend , K.Zarbaliyeva/
So far, the amnesty act which was adopted upon the initative of Azerbaijani First Lady, President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, UNESCO and ISESCO Good-Will Ambassador and Parliamentarian Mehriban Aliyeva on the occasion of the Novruz Holiday has released 2,400 prisoners, Deputy Head of the Justice Ministry Penitentiary Service Huseyn Alikhanov told journalists on May 6.
The parliament approved Aliyeva's amnesty bill on the eve of Novruz on March 17. The bill concerns 9,000 prisoners, and envisages releasing 1,700.
Alikhanov said 1,400 of them are prisoners of penal institutions of the precinct type, the remaining part - special institutions.
The regulations of the Amnesty Act are executed in order of priority, he said. First, the act is applied to convicts who have only 6 months to finish their sentence.
"The amnesty has concerned all of those convicted. Then the amnesty releases underage and prisoners who have served more than half of his sentence," he said.
As to releasing prisoners who are undergoing compulsory treatment for drug addiction will be released, when the treatment finishes, Alikhanov said.
"Some 20 of these prisoners will be released soon," Alikhanov said.
Eight Amnesty Acts have been adopted since 1995 and they concerned roughly 80,000 prisoners and over 39,000 of them were released.
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