MOSCOW, March 4 (RAPSI) – More than 2,100 convicts have been released in Russia in accordance with economic crime amnesty passed in July 2013, the Prosecutor General's Office reported Tuesday.

Prosecutors reported that the most “popular” crimes committed by the people who have been released under the amnesty are credit fraud (807 convicts), violation of copyright and associated rights (393) and illegal enterprise (318).

According to the statement, 2133 individuals including 477 women and four minors have been pardoned. The amnesty largely applied in Moscow (211 pardoned individuals) and in the Stavropol Territory (103).

On July 2, a bill proposing an economic crime amnesty was approved by the State Duma.

The resolution releases from criminal liability, regardless of the designated prison term, individuals convicted or held liable under 27 articles of the Criminal Code related to business activities. For the amnesty to take effect, a suspect or a convict has to return the property or compensate the damages to the complainants.

The amnesty applies not only to individuals serving prison terms but also persons who received non-custodial or suspended sentences or were convicted on parole.  Earlier, Presidential Plenipotentiary at the State Duma of the Russian Federation Garry Minkh said that approximately 3,000 convicts must be amnestied.