Parliamentary allies of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych have passed a
law providing amnesty to
protesters detained during two months of street unrest.
But opposition MPs
abstained from the vote, angry that it was taken on an unseen text which
apparently said it was conditional upon activists vacating occupied buildings.
Yuri Miroshnichenko, a
member of the ruling Party of Regions and who was the author of the amnesty
bill said the conditions were limited. He stressed on the essence of giving administrators
possibility to work, referring to occupied regional council buildings around
the country, reports GHN according to Euronews.
Several hours after the
vote, the bill was finally published. Analysts said there was a loophole
allowing the government to insist on the clearing of barricades if there were
any protests it felt were non-peaceful.
Even so, Ukraine’s
opposition parties are pushing for more than just an amnesty. They want to see
a real change in the balance of power.
“If
we fix another crucial issue, which is constitutional amendments and the key
factor of this constitutional amendments is to shift from presidential to a parliament-presidential
republic, so this could even somehow calm down the situation in Ukraine”, said
Fatherland Party leader Arseny Yatsenyuk.