Putin to Pardon Arctic 30 and Pussy Riot?

President Vladimir Putin has submitted a draft bill to the State Duma that would grant amnesty to about 25,000 people in honor of the 20th anniversary of the Constitution, reported the Moscow Times.

Although the amnesty bill doesn’t specifically name those who could be pardoned, it does outline the categories of criminal affected. Only first-time offenders who haven’t committed violent crimes and have been sentenced to no more than five years in prison are eligible, a statement on the Kremlin’s website said Monday.

Women with young children, war veterans, police officers and elderly people were included in the bill, which needs to be reviewed and voted on by Dec. 21, said Pavel Krasheninnikov, head of the parliamentary legislative affairs committee.

“We don’t have a choice — we must review this question either this week or the next one,” Krasheninnikov said, adding that he was yet to see the bill. “The amnesty must take effect by the end of the year,” he said, Itar-Tass reported Tuesday.

It had been expected that the amnesty would come into effect on Dec. 12, to mark Constitution day, but it seems that deadline will be missed.

The amnesty could apply to Pussy Riot members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, both whom are serving two-year jail terms for their 2012 protest inside Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral. They both have young children.

People convicted of hooliganism and public disorder could also be set for a pardon. This could work in favor of the “Arctic 30” Greenpeace activists and some of the protesters imprisoned after the Bolotnaya demonstration in 2012 who have been charged with hooliganism, but not yet convicted.

The amnesty doesn’t apply to former tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Vladimir Vasilyev, a State Duma deputy speaker from the United Russia party’s faction, said the amnesty would cover about 25,000 people, of whom only 2,000 who are in prison. Another 17,500 people whose convictions didn’t result in prison terms would see their sentences revoked, Interfax reported. This relates partly to those who are on probation or on parole.

A further 6,000 people could have charges against them dropped, Vasilyev said, adding that the bill was likely to be passed.

“I think not only our faction, but everybody else will also support the draft bill,” he said. “I hope it will be adopted in the nearest future.”

Implementing the amnesty could take about six months, Vasilyev said.

Analysts and rights activists earlier estimated that up to 100,000 people could directly benefit from the amnesty.

A leader of the human rights group Memorial, Oleg Orlov, said he had expected a broader pardon, but welcomed “even this version” of the amnesty, news agencies reported. “At least some people will go free,” Orlov said.

“But the part of the Russian society that called for an amnesty had understood it in a broader sense and we are, of course, disappointed,” he said. “It’s hard to imagine what a disappointment it would for those who are in prison and for their relatives that this amnesty wasn’t truly broad.”