Ukraine grants protesters amnesty after government buildings evacuated

Charges dropped as authorities and opposition make conciliatory gestures ahead of moves toward power-sharing

An anti-government protester wearing a balaclava and a military helmet stands behind an anti-riot police shield on Independence Square in Kiev. Martin Bureau / AFP

KIEV // Ukraine announced on Sunday that protesters arrested in anti-government unrest rocking the country would be granted an amnesty, in a minor victory for the opposition after it ended its occupation of Kiev city hall.

Activists vowed to maintain pressure on authorities over a host of other major demands, nearly three months after anger over President Viktor Yanukovich’s decision to reject an EU trade deal in favour of closer ties with Russia boiled over into unrest.

And while city hall and many other highly symbolic public buildings occupied by protesters were vacated on Sunday – prompting the amnesty announcement – Kiev’s iconic Independence Square remained under opposition control, the sprawling tent city barricaded off on all sides from riot police.

“The [amnesty] law comes into force from February 17, 2014, and stipulates that charges against people having committed offences ... will be dropped,” a statement from Ukraine prosecutors said.

Mr Yanukovich conditionally approved the law at the beginning of the month as he sought to pacify protesters following deadly unrest in Kiev that shocked the country.

It promised to release detained protesters and drop charges against them but only if public buildings occupied by activists in Kiev and other cities were vacated.

“I am satisfied,” said Ruslan Andriyko, a protester who had managed the day-to-day running of the occupied city hall, which had become the “headquarters of the revolution”.

“Despite a difficult decision, we succeeded in overcoming emotions and ensuring that the law came into force,” Mr Andriyko said.

Ending the occupation of city hall had come under strong criticism at a mass rally on Independence Square earlier on Sunday.

“It’s a bad decision ... We can’t trust the authorities, they’re crooks. The opposition is making a big mistake,” said Volodymyr Penkivski, 56, a protester who had travelled from northern Ukraine.

“Yanukovich will take other [protesters] hostage. We can’t beat a retreat. Otherwise we will all go to prison.”

Anger on the street crescendoed on Sunday afternoon, with protesters wearing helmets and holding batons threatening to retake city hall if the amnesty was not officially granted.

Vitali Klitschko, the former boxer turned opposition leader, acknowledged that the decision to evacuate city hall, though difficult, was the right thing to do.

Some of those arrested had been slapped with charges carrying sentences of up to 15 years in jail.

“When you’re behind bars, you don’t have the same outlook,” he said.

Mr Klitschko and Arseniy Yatsenyuk, another opposition leader, will travel to Berlin to meet the German chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday and press her for European financial assistance.

The opposition has also agreed to vacate part of Grushevsky Street, where riots left several dead and hundreds hurt in late January, to allow traffic to move freely.

On Sunday, an opening had been carved out in one of the street’s barricades, but this was still fiercely guarded by a row of protesters in combat gear.

Nearby, vendors sold calendars and magnets depicting scenes of the months-long unrest.

But protesters still have a host of unmet demands, including a major reform of the constitution to reduce presidential powers in favour of the government and parliament.

Mr Yanukovich dismissed his unpopular government after the deadly riots, but he has yet to appoint a new one and the opposition wants its members to be placed in key positions.

Ultimately, protesters want Mr Yanukovich himself to leave, and a rally is planned on Tuesday in front of parliament.

Andreas Umland, a political scientist at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in the Ukrainian capital, said the government and opposition were thought to be negotiating a form of power-sharing to be implemented before early presidential elections are held.

“For now the main question is whether Yanukovich will agree to power-sharing, what kind of power-sharing and how much power will be left to the office of the president,” he said.

* Agence France-Presse