KIEV, April 18 (RIA Novosti) – Authorities in Kiev have prepared a bill to pardon protesters in the country’s southeastern regions, Ukraine’s acting Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk said Friday.
Speaking at a question and answer session in the Ukrainian parliament, Yatsenyuk said the government in Kiev intended to drop charges against all demonstrators that it had earlier dubbed “terrorists,” with the exception of felons.
He said the draft law had already been written and would soon be taken up in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s unicameral parliament.
Under the law, activists who agree to vacate occupied government buildings would be granted amnesty, provided they haven’t committed serious crimes.
Russia, Ukraine, the United States and the European Union met in Geneva Thursday where they agreed to de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine’s southeastern areas. Mediators called on the warring parties to disband illegally armed groups, surrender all occupied government buildings and remove protesters from streets and squares. They also urged the Kiev regime to pardon demonstrators that had not committed felonies.
Eastern Ukraine has been swept by rallies since last month. Federalization supporters in Kharkiv, Donetsk, Gorlovka, Slaviansk and Kramatorsk have refused to recognize the legitimacy of the current Ukrainian government and are urging interim authorities to hold referendums similar to the one held in Crimea last month, which led to the republic’s reunification with Russia. In response, Ukrainian authorities started a special operation to crack down on pro-federalization activists in eastern regions of the country.
