Source: CNN
Russian lawmakers backed the final draft of a sweeping amnesty law Wednesday that could see jailed members of the Pussy Riot punk protest band released early and arrested Greenpeace activists avoiding prison, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported.
The amnesty, to mark the anniversary of the adoption of Russia's post-Communist constitution in 1993, will be applied to thousands of Russian prisoners, the agency reported.
Pussy Riot's Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina are serving two-year jail terms for their part in a performance critical of Putin, when he was Prime Minister.
The performance was held at a Russian Orthodox cathedral, and the musicians were found guilty of hooliganism.
The women, who are set to complete their sentences in coming months, have young children and would therefore qualify for the amnesty, RIA Novosti said.
Thirty people arrested after a Greenpeace protest at an offshore oil platform in the Arctic in September also are charged with hooliganism. They have been released on bail but still face trial.
The bill had initially stated that amnesty could only be granted after a sentence had been passed, but it has been extended to individuals on trial, meaning "the group may be free from prosecution and its foreign members be allowed to return home," RIA Novosti said.
The amnesty bill will undergo a third, final and formal reading later Wednesday.
Russia's record on human rights is in the spotlight as the country prepares to host the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi in February.
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