MOSCOW, October 16 (RAPSI) – A bill simplifying a procedure for release of seriously ill convicts from serving sentence passed its first reading in the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, on Tuesday.

The bill would authorize the government to enact a regulation determining a procedure of medical examination for inmates applying for release because of serious illness.

Currently, Russia’s Justice Ministry and Federal Penitentiary Service do not have powers to determine a procedure of grave ill prisoners’ health examination.

Moreover, under the draft law, if convicts are unable to file a motion for release with court themselves, chiefs of prisons or penitentiary bodies would have a right to lodge an appropriate petition.

The initiative has been drafted based on the results of the law enforcement monitoring of prisoners’ health care maintaining.