Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a bill banning the jailing of people suspected of tax crimes and has fired another senior prison official following the jail death of a tax lawyer in November.

Mr. Medvedev, who has advocated more lenient punishment for economic crimes, signed a law banning the jailing of people under suspicion of tax crimes and allowing those convicted of a first tax offense to be fined without being held criminally liable, the Kremlin said in a statement Tuesday.