Amnesty will concern white-collar crimes

A big amnesty of prisoners is planned for November 23 to mark the fifth anniversary of the Rose Revolution. Around 2,000 prisoners convicted under different paragraphs of the criminal code will be freed.

The amnesty will certainly concern some people convicted of economic, “white-collar” crimes.

The criminal code does contain special articles related to monopolistic price fixing, be it high or low, which make it a criminal offence to limit competition. Some people have been convicted under these articles, and such crimes may be punished by two years imprisonment. However these crimes often have no victims, meaning many people are in prison for accounting mistakes rather than wilful economic misconduct. Thankfully they will be included in the amnesty.

Other offences whose perpetrators will now be given amnesty include selling other companies brands as your own, misusing credit cards, violating the rules of using the national currency, cheating customers and selling products without excise marks. There are many such offences covered by the amnesty but few people are in prison for these crimes. Only 16 cases of people selling goods without excise marks have been brought so far, but it is good that they too will be released. As again this is a victimless crime.

There are some ridiculous clauses in the amnesty text. For instance, monopolists will be released. How many monopolists are in the prison now the anti-monopoly service is dead? But still the amnesty is a positive act welcome in a democratic society.