MOSCOW, May 7 (RAPSI) - The Presidential Council on Human Rights appealed to the State Duma on Monday for the support of its initiative to free the suspects in organizing mass riots on Bolotnaya Square in Moscow on May 6, 2012.

The bid to free the participants in the May 2012 protest rally in central Moscow has been sponsored by the Communist Party. The communists have proposed to announce an amnesty on the 20th Anniversary of the Constitution.

The Human Rights Council members believe that if the case is finally taken to court, it would only aggravate tension between the authorities and the moderate civil opposition. This may lead to a further decrease in public confidence in the court system and consequently in the official authorities. The council is also going to ask President Vladimir Putin to lend his political support to the initiative.

Mass riots broke out at a Moscow protest rally on the eve of Vladimir Putin's inauguration last May for a third presidential term. The demonstration ended in violent clashes between protesters and the police. Over 400 people were arrested and scores were injured when protesters briefly broke through police lines in a bid to take their protest to the Kremlin walls.