MOSCOW, October 16 (RIA Novosti) - Crimean Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov said Thursday the bill to pardon those in the republic who took up the arms following the February coup in Ukraine was likely to clear the region’s parliament.
“I am sure that the bill granting amnesty to Crimean self-defense forces will be adopted,” Aksyonov told reporters at a press conference on the situation in Russia’s new federal region.
“We’ve made it clear that militiamen will be set free only if they had not acted to obtain personal gain,” the prime minister emphasized.
In early October, the Crimean Parliament moved to grant amnesty to members of militia and vigilantes whose actions caused certain damage in the wake of the rising turmoil in post-coup Ukraine and after Crimea’s secession in March. The legislation will apply to people tried for criminal offenses and those already incarcerated.
Following the nationalist uprising in Ukraine, residents of Crimea refused to recognize the legitimacy of the new Kiev government and held a referendum in March, which resulted in Crimea’s reunification with Russia.
