On October 11, 2011 the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Belarus took a decision “On the effect of amnesty laws in time” (a reporting judge – Tadeush V. Voronovich). The decision was taken on examination of the appeal by the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Belarus. In the absence of official legislative interpretation of the effect of amnesty laws in time and with a view to develop uniform application of these laws, the Prosecutor's Office requested to state the position on whether the amnesty laws are perpetual normative legal acts.

In its decision the Constitutional Court emphasised the constitutional and legal nature of amnesty as an act of humanism of the State directed to release certain categories of offenders from criminal liability and penalties, mitigation or elimination of legal consequences of the imposed penalties. This act is based on the principles of equity, equality of citizens’ rights, proportionality and balance of constitutional values in counteracting offences.

The amnesty laws adopted by the Parliament of the Republic of Belarus have certain distinctions, but at the same time they comply with all general requirements established for normative legal acts in accordance with the Law “On Normative Legal Acts of the Republic of Belarus”. Thus, according to part one of article 66 of the Law a normative legal act shall be in effect perpetually if otherwise provided in the text thereof.

The general provision of all the amnesty laws on the execution of the law (six months from the date of its entry into force), entrust the competent authorities with the responsibility to fulfill at a certain time the requirements of these laws in respect of persons prosecuted or sentenced, without establishing the amnesty time-limits. Amnesty is a perpetual act that extends to those persons, who committed the crime before the amnesty law’s entry into force, and it is in effect in accordance with the criteria provided by every specific amnesty law.

Based on the analysis of the constitutional rules and other legislative acts of the Republic of Belarus the Constitutional Court concluded that there are no gaps in legislation establishing the effects of amnesty laws. The provisions of the Law “On Normative Legal Acts of the Republic of Belarus” are fully applied to these laws. The Court also noted in its decision that the Parliament of the Republic of Belarus may establish application criteria in amnesty laws, determining the categories of persons subject to amnesty, amnesty conditions and terms of execution of amnesty laws. The Court turned attention of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Belarus and other law-enforcement agencies to the fact that with in view of correct application of amnesty to certain persons it is required to consider the amnesty criteria established by the legislator in amnesty laws for determining the persons to amnesty, amnesty conditions and terms of execution of amnesty laws in the aggregate.