Almost 10 days after it became known that the criminal leader Alexander Sinigur, alias "Синий", sentenced to life imprisonment, has been released from prison, the Ministry of Justice clarifies the application of legal provisions on amnesty and early parole of persons sentenced to life imprisonment. The ministry says that nine people sentenced to life imprisonment have been released on suspicion of abuse and inconsistency, IPN reports.

According to the Ministry of Justice (MJ), the amendments to the law on amnesty have brought changes to the application of amnesty by reducing the sentence, thus creating new possibilities for those sentenced to life imprisonment to benefit from the law. It should be noted that the Government did not oppose some of the amendments introduced additionally in the final reading.

These amendments made it possible, in certain cases, to reduce/commute life imprisonment to 30 years. And then, through a different procedure, to cumulatively apply to the court for early parole or to replace the unexerved part of the sentence with a milder sanction under more favorable conditions for these convicts.

"Out of the 9 proceedings, 3 have been appealed, 2 appeals have been admitted, 1 person has been resettled in the penitentiary, 1 person is to be identified and the situation with 1 person is under examination. The 7 persons released are on probation and under monitoring by the police in accordance with the legal powers," the Ministry of Justice said.

The Ministry has initiated a comprehensive investigation into these cases, accompanied by a detailed check of the work of the National Penitentiary Administration and the eligibility assessment commissions, how the law was applied by those responsible.

"Upon finalization of the said investigations, the necessary measures will be taken, including formal referrals to the competent authorities for criminal liability checks," a press release said.

On April 9, the Constitutional Court, at the request of the public prosecutor, suspended on April 9 the application of the provisions allowing the commutation of life imprisonment to 30 years of imprisonment. Earlier, the Parliament had approved, in two readings, a legislative initiative providing that persons whose sentences have been commuted from life imprisonment to 30 years' imprisonment will no longer be eligible to apply to the court to have the term they are serving reduced.