MAKHACHKALA, June 25 (RIA Novosti) – Lawmakers in Dagestan, a restive republic in Russia’s North Caucasus, support granting amnesty to rebel insurgents who return to a peaceful way of life, members of the local parliament told RIA Novosti on Tuesday.
Attacks on security forces, police and civilians are reported regularly in Dagestan, more than a decade after a war against Islamist separatists ended in neighboring Chechnya.
Local lawmakers have said they would draft a bill regarding such amnesty as soon as Dagestan’s parliament convenes after summer recess. The republic’s acting leader, Ramazan Abudlatipov, said Tuesday that he had issued orders to review various options for the pardons.
The regional head of the ruling United Party, Marina Abramkina, said the insurgency issue was “highly sensitive” because many young men fall in with the rebels “unwittingly.”
United Russia has a majority in the republic’s parliament and will do all it can to ensure that the amnesty bill is adopted “within an optimal time span,” she added.
Kamil Davdiyev, head of the A Just Russia faction in the republic’s parliament, said that only those not implicated in serious crimes should quality for amnesty.
His view was shared by a representative of Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee, Nikolai Sintsov, who said such amnesty should not be granted to people “with blood on their hands.”
