Ingushetia authorities are prepared to pardon militants who have not committed serious crimes

The authorities of Ingushetia call on the militants who are not involved in serious crimes to stop illegal activities and lay down arms in exchange of being exempt from criminal prosecution.

"The executive authorities conduct explanatory work to convince members of illegal armed units and their helpmates to stop their illegal activities on a voluntary basis, which may serve as grounds to be exempt from criminal prosecution", announced the republic's representative of the federal security service.

As an example, he cited the decision adopted with regard to three Ingushetia residents detained on December 5, 2008  in the town of Karabulak. A pistol with eight cartridges and a machine-gun with 60 cartridges were found in the VAZ-2107 car in which the residents of Ingushetia traveled. The arms were confiscated.

"During interrogation the detained persons took an obligation to stop their illegal activity. The law enforcement agency took into account the fact that the detained persons repented and volunteered to quit the militants. They are now going to help them find work and to provide them social protection",  cites the agency "RIA Novosti".

According to the information of the RF National Anti-terrorism Committee, the conditions of the amnesty in the Southern Federal District which ended in January 2007, were used by 470 people who stopped their illegal activity and returned to peaceful life.