The Zhogorku Kenesh approved in the third reading a number of amendments to the Criminal Code concerning the statute of limitations and early release.
According to the current Criminal Code, a person who has committed a crime may be released from criminal liability if certain periods have expired from the day he or she committed the crime until the day the sentence comes into legal force. For a person who has committed a particularly serious crime, this period is 10 years. But if we are talking about a particularly serious crime for which life imprisonment may be imposed, then the court replaces life imprisonment with imprisonment from 15 to 20 years if it does not find it possible to apply the statute of limitations.
The adopted amendments to the Criminal Code abolished the lower limit of the term. Now, if the court refuses to apply the statute of limitations to a person facing a life sentence for committing a particularly serious crime, then instead of life imprisonment, 20 years in prison will be imposed.
In addition, the bill proposes to apply parole to those who have compensated at least half of the damage caused by the crime.
Also, according to the amendments, parole cannot be applied to those convicted of illegal production of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their analogues for the purpose of sale.
