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All arrested Ukraine protesters released - prosecutor

14 February 2014, 21:59

Ukraine's attorney general said Friday all 234 protesters who were arrested in anti-government unrest rocking the country had been released - as demanded by the opposition - but charges against them remained.

'234 people were arrested between December 26 and February 2. None of them are in custody any more,' said Viktor Pshonka, adding that charges against them would be dropped if buildings currently occupied by demonstrators were evacuated.

President Viktor Yanukovych, who for more than two months has faced relentless protests demanding he resign, signed a law early February agreeing to amnesty all detainees.

But he set one condition - that protesters evacuate all public buildings they are occupying, such as Kiev city hall next to Independence Square, where demonstrators are camping out in what has become a barricaded anti-government enclave.

'If the conditions of the (amnesty) law are met... all charges against them will be abandoned over one month' from February 18, Pshonka said.

The protests erupted in November after Yanukovych ditched a key EU trade pact in favour of closer ties with Russia, angering pro-EU parts of the population.

Ukrainian rightist movement ready to unblock Hrushevsky Street in Kiev

The Right Sector movement, a Ukrainian radical right wing of the protest groups continuing demonstrations in central Kiev, says it is ready to unblock Hrushevsky Street following the release of activists arrested earlier but warns that it reserves the right to act at its own discretion in the future unless all criminal proceedings against activists are closed.

'The last hostage was released at our demand under a court ruling today. In connection with this, Right Sector declares its preparedness to facilitate the unblocking of Hrushevsky Street to traffic,' Right Sector leader Dmytro Yarosh said in a statement on Facebook.

The movement demands that 'all criminal cases against our sworn brothers' be closed immediately.

'If this demand is not met, we reserve the right to act at our own discretion within the shortest possible time,' the statement says.

Ukraine: all arrested opposition protesters freed from custody – opposition

A district court in Kiev has released from custody the last opposition protester arrested for involvement in mass unrest in Ukraine, said the opposition 'National resistance headquarters'. All 234 arrested rioters have thus been released.

Earlier Press-Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Sergey Burlakov informed an ITAR-TASS correspondent that all the participants of mass disorders detained earlier on the territory of the country will be released today.

A law came into force in Ukraine on February 2nd on 'removing negative consequences and preventing prosecution or punishment of those involved in the events that took place during the holding of peaceful rallies' (the amnesty law).

The putting the law into execution was made conditional on a number of demands, specifically that the protesters clear the offices of government and local self-government agencies. The protesters have been given 15 days, or until February 17th, to execute the order.

Voice of Russia, Interfax, AFP

Source: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_02_14/ All-arrested-Ukraine- protesters-released-prosecutor-2939/