Communists press for parliamentary probe against amnestied minister

MOSCOW, March 7 (Itar-Tass) - Russia's Communist Party says the decision to amnesty and close the negligence case against former Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov is “dangerous for the state” and wants a parliamentary investigation to bring him to justice, State Duma First Deputy Speaker Ivan Melnikov told Itar-Tass on Friday. “The case is high-profile. Society sees that the proverb ‘a thief belongs in jail’ does not work,” said Melnikov, first deputy chairman of the Russian Communist Party's Central Committee (CPRF), regretting that “instead of a parliamentary investigation into Serdyukov’s activity, on which the CPRF insists, we get absolutely the opposite from the authorities”. “In any case, the fight in that direction does not end for us and we will discuss its possible forms,” the parliamentarian added while Deputy Anatoly Lokot said the party might renew calls for a parliamentary investigation against Serdyukov “with new arguments and in new conditions”. In earlier developments, Duma deputies refused to support the Communist-inspired parliamentary probe, fearing pressure on investigators and judges. But the arguments were playing out in an amnesty, Lokot said, noting that “amnesty is the acknowledgment of somebody’s guilt. Only concrete deeds can be pardoned,” he said as the party pondered an appeal to higher instances “to look into whether it was lawful to amnesty Serdyukov”.