1137 prisoners released in Kazakhstan

1137 prisoners were released in Kazakhstan on April 7 as part of the criminal legislation humanization effort, Tengrinews.kz reports, citing the government press-office. 100 of the released convicts are women, Vice-Minister of Justice Amirkhan Amanbayev said. “This law is on the final stage of implementation: it provides for humanization of penal legislation and decriminalization of criminal offences of average and petty gravity that pose small threat to the public,” Vice-Minister of Justice said. According to the official information, 6054 of convicts will be pardoned in 2011 on the basis of these humanization principles. Almost 400 convicts will see their sentences commuted. “247 convicts got liberty in Karaganda oblast, 192 in Eastern Kazakhstan, 114 in Almaty oblast, 118 in Kostanay and 85 in Pavlodar oblast. The total of 2.5 thousand convicts has been released,” Amirkhan Amanbayev said.