GROZNY. July 14 (Interfax-South) - Amnesty has been granted to 93 members of illegal armed formations since the State Duma's resolution come into force, Chechen Security Council Secretary Rudnik Dudayev told Interfax.
Half of the pardoned people turned up to the local interior bodies and the others came to the district and Chechen structures of the Federal Security Service (FSB), Dudayev noted. One person was released from a courtroom in the Leninsky district in Grozny, he said.
Acting Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov pointed out that "the amnesty is of huge importance for Chechnya, even if just a few people had admitted guilt."
"The Russian president and the State Duma have demonstrated their readiness to peacefully resolve the Chechen problem to the whole world. Those who found themselves in the militant ranks because they pursued wrong ideas or were deceived, have a realistic opportunity to return to peaceful work," Kadyrov noted.
The heads of the Chechen ministries, agencies and administrations were tasked with finding employment for the amnestied people, he said.
A spokesman for the Regional Operational Headquarters managing the anti-guerilla operation in the North Caucasus, Colonel Ilya Shabalkin, told Interfax that 160 people asked for amnesty.