Amnesty of 1953

The Amnesty of 1953 (Russian: Амнистия 1953 года) was the largest amnesty in the history of the Soviet Union (and in the history of Russia) in terms of the number of the released persons.

It was declared by the March 27, 1953 Decree of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union on the Amnesty.

The amnesty was applied to: The amnesty was not applied to people with term over 5 years convicted for counter-revolutionary crimes, major theft of socialist property, banditism, and murder.

Other acts of the amnesty included the reduction of imprisonment terms, dismissing unfinished criminal proceedings which fit the above criteria, etc.

[6] The amnesty was followed with the considerable rise of criminal activities,[5] therefore it was partially rolled back and many criminal amnestees were imprisoned again.