MOSCOW, November 18 - RAPSI. Amendments to the Criminal Code introducing compulsory works as an alternative to imprisonment and allowing those, who committed minor economic crimes, be released after paying a fine five times higher than the damage they inflicted passed the third reading at the State Duma on Thursday.

The so-called third presidential set of amendments to humanize criminal laws was submitted to the State Duma in early June.

President Dmitry Medvedev proposes to amend the code's general provisions and qualify as minor crimes the actions punishable by up to three years, rather than two years in prison, as the current legislation provides for now.

Additionally, the amendments allow relieving from criminal responsibility those persons, who committed such economic crimes as fraud and embezzlement, for the first time.

To be relieved, a businessman will have to compensate for the inflicted damage in full, as well as allocate to the federal budget a sum, five times exceeding the damage amount.