MOSCOW, March 31 (RAPSI) - The mortality rate in Russia's prisons has dropped recently by 10%, Deputy Head of Chancery of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Ivan Solovyov announced during a round-table conference in the Federation Council on Friday.

Issues related to courts’ refusal to release inmates, who suffer from grave diseases preventing service of sentence, belong to the scope of legislative regulation, Solovyov noted during discussion of improving the order of release on medical grounds. According to the official, there is the Resolution of Plenum of Russia’s Supreme Court handling matters of release on parole and release because of serious illness. He suggested to separate the Resolution to prevent courts from confusion of the matters because grounds for parole are frequently applied to seriously ill convicts.

In 2016, 3,500 petitions were lodged seeking release on medical grounds, according to Solovyov. Subsequently, 749 applicants died prior to the beginning of court hearings, 119 people deceased pending the entry of a court ruling into force, 1,678 individuals were released and 941 convicts were denied release.