MOSCOW, December 19 (RAPSI) – Nikulinsky District Court of Moscow on Thursday terminated the case against four defendants in the 2012 Bolotnaya Square Moscow riots case – Nikolai Kavkazsky, Maria Baronova, Leonid Kovyazin and Vladimir Akimenkov, RAPSI reports from the courtroom .

The State Duma on Tuesday passed in the first reading an amnesty bill submitted by Putin.  The amnesty was arranged to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

On Wednesday, the document was published on Russia’s official legal information website, thus having officially taken effect.

Over 400 people were arrested and scores were injured in the protest on Bolotnaya Square that turned violent on the eve of President Vladimir Putin’s inauguration to a third presidential term in May 2012. Dozens of participants were later charged with inciting mass riots and using violence against law enforcement representatives.