MOSCOW, April 24 (RIA Novosti) - The lower house of the Russian parliament passed on Friday a law allowing formal plea bargaining.

The law, adopted by the State Duma in its third and final reading, establishes that suspects who cooperate with the investigation may be treated more leniently.

In particular, they may not be sentenced to more than 50% of the statutory prison term for the crime with which they are charged.

The arrangement will not, however, be applied to life sentences.

Furthermore, suspects cooperating with the investigation will be entitled to enter a witness protection program.