KIEV, May 14 (RIA Novosti) – Three pro-federalization supporters from eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk who had laid down their arms have been absolved of criminal responsibility, Andriy Senchenko, acting Deputy Head of the Ukrainian Presidential Administration said Wednesday.
“So to speak, we managed to persuade three people out of 47 with whom we had been negotiating to lay down arms. And prosecutors found the way to exempt them from criminal liability," Senchenko told reporters.
The interim Ukraine authorities are prepared to grant individual amnesty to every protester, provided that they were not involved in the perpetration of serious crimes, he said.
The Ukrainian Party of Regions has repeatedly demanded parliament pass an amnesty law for all protesters in the southeast of the country. Kiev authorities claimed they are ready to grant amnesty to the federalization supporters but only under condition that they lay down their arms and leave the government buildings they are holding. The law has yet to be reviewed by parliament.
The Donetsk and Luhansk regions have declared independence from Ukraine based on the results of referendums held on Sunday. The decision was immediately declared illegal by the US and EU.
The Kremlin said in a statement Monday it respected the will of the people in Ukraine’s southeast and urged the regime in Kiev to do the same. The Kremlin said it condemned “the use of force including military hardware against peaceful citizens which led to deaths” during the referendums.
