“The amnesty has concerned 8,723 people. In 2013, 503 cases of repeated crime were recorded. This accounts just for 6%.”
Member of the Parliamentary Majority, Eka Beselia, stated: “The amnesty has concerned 8,723 people. In 2013, 503 cases of repeated crime were recorded. This accounts just for 6% with 8,200 people continuing with their former way of life.”
FactCheckverified the accuracy of Eka Beselia’s statement.
The Law of Georgia on Amnesty, to which Ms Beselia was referring, was published on 12 January 2013. According to the Law, its term of enactment was two months from its date of publishing with the exception of prisoners convicted of fraud. According to the information of the Ministry of Corrections and Legal Assistance of Georgia, the two-month term expired on 13 March. A portion of those convicted has been freed from punishment whilst the punishment of another part was either halved or otherwise mitigated. Naturally, those whose punishments were halved or mitigated were released at a later date with the process on-going.
According to the information of the Ministry of Corrections and Legal Assistance of Georgia, a total of 8,734 people were released from corrections facilities from 12 January 2013 to November 2014.
We addressed the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia on 28 September 2014 to find out how many amnestied prisoners committed a repeated crime. We have not received information from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia regarding this issue. Later, on 21 November, we retrieved public information from the Ministry of Corrections and Legal Assistance of Georgia. According to the information of the Ministry, 523 amnestied individuals committed a repeated crime in 2013 whilst in the ten-month period of 2014 – this number was 423. Further, 6% of prisoners released from corrections facilities in 2013 have committed repeated crime whilst in 2014 – this number was 4.8%.
It was additionally important for us to find out the extent to which repeated crimes committed by amnestied individuals influenced monthly crime statistics. As of September 2014, 2,426 crimes were registered in Georgia with amnestied individuals having committed 42 of them which equates to 1.7%. The same rate in August 2014 was 0.9% and in July 2014 – 1.4%. As we see, the repeated crimes have not significantly influenced crime statistics.
Conclusion
To November 2014, a total of 8,743 people left corrections facilities following the Law of Georgia on Amnesty. According to the information of the Ministry of Corrections and Legal Assistance of Georgia, 523 amnestied individuals committed repeated crimes in 2013. This number was 423 in 2014. In 2013, the rate of repeated crimes committed by amnestied individuals was 6% whilst in 2014 it was at 4.8%.
We also studied the extent to which the repeated crimes committed by amnestied individuals influenced overall crime statistics. As our data analysis points out, the share of repeated crimes committed by amnestied individuals in the total crime statistics is no more than 2%.
Hence, Ms Beselia’s statement: “The amnesty has concerned 8,723 people. In 2013, 503 cases of repeated crime were recorded. This accounts just for 6%,” is TRUE.
