STEPANAKERT. – The Nagorno-Karabakh parliament decided to declare the amnesty on the 20th anniversary of independence proposed by the President Bako Sahakyan.

The amnesty will release 20 percent of prisoners, and all others sentenced for the punishment, which has no connection to the life sentence. The official Stepanakert did not make public how many people are imprisoned in general.

“Besides releasing all prisoners, 60 to 80 percent of ongoing criminal and court cases will be closed,” head of the state-legal department Arayik Lazaryan said.

According to the decision, the amnesty is for prisoners sentenced for up to three years of imprisonment, disadvantaged people of first and second group, prisoners sentenced for up to five years of imprisonment, who committed the crime while under 18, prisoners of the age of 60 and above, participants of the Karabakh conflict and relatives of people died during the war, as well as prisoners on probation. However, the amnesty will not release prisoners having committed several serious crimes and crimes against state order.