KIEV, February 15 (RIA Novosti) – Ukrainian authorities on Friday released the last of 234 protesters detained during mass anti-government protests under an amnesty deal intended to defuse ongoing street unrest.
Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka said prosecutors and courts could begin the process of dropping criminal charges against the suspects as early as Tuesday if they adhere to the terms of the amnesty, which includes a Monday deadline to clear roads and vacate government buildings occupied by protesters.
“I’m saying today that there is a real timetable – about one month,” Pshonka was quoted by the UNIAN news agency as saying. “That means that by March 18, and not later, all criminal cases will be closed and all suspects will be cleared of criminal responsibility.”
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said in a television interview Friday that he is “confident that common sense will prevail” in the tense standoff between authorities and the protesters.
“People are being liberated,” Yanukovych said. “I addressed both protesters and law enforcement officials for us to open the way for the implementation of the given law as soon as possible.”
Sergei Sobolev, head of the opposition Batkivshchyna party’s parliamentary faction, said in an interview with Ukraine’s Channel 5 television that protesters have begun opening up Grushevsky Street in Kiev to allow traffic to pass and are preparing to hand over the Kiev city administration building.
Grushevsky Street was the focus of more than four days of violence last month that left more than 200 people on both sides injured and at least three protesters dead, according to official reports.
US State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf on Friday welcomed news of the protesters’ release and praised the Ukrainian opposition’s decision to vacate occupied government buildings.
“We consider this an important step to de-escalate tensions and create space for a peaceful, non-violent solution to Ukraine’s political crisis,” Harf said in a statement.
Harf urged Yanukovych’s government to halt “all investigations, arrests, detentions, and prosecutions against demonstrators and civil society activists” and said that the United States is “gravely concerned” over intimidation of the media and organizations advocating “for fundamental democratic principles and good governance” in Ukraine.
“The next step in this process should be the formation of a multiparty technical government, with genuine power-sharing and responsibility, which can earn the confidence of the Ukrainian people and restore political and economic stability to Ukraine,” Harf said.
Protests erupted across the country after Yanukovych rejected an association agreement with the European Union at the last minute in November, and instead signed a deal for Ukraine to receive $15 billion in aid from Russia.
The demonstrations initially vented anger at the abandoned trade deal, but quickly turned into a broad anti-government protest movement. Police attempts to evict protesters forcibly from camps established in the center of the capital Kiev have turned violent on at least one occasion, drawing international condemnation.
