Kyiv denies reports on adoption of Donbas amnesty document at Minsk talks
KYIV. Dec 16 (Interfax) - A prominent Ukrainian parliamentarian, and presidential representative for settling the conflict in Donbas, Irina Herashchenko has denied that an amnesty document was adopted at a Trilateral Contact Group meeting in Minsk on December 15.
"As it concerns amnesty, I say responsibly, that not a single bill was discussed, not to mention adopted, either during a meeting of the subgroups in Minsk on December 15, nor during the previous discussions in the political subgroup (I very well know this from my colleagues in the subgroups) or in the humanitarian one," Herashchenko said on Facebook on Wednesday morning.
Ukraine is examining the way amnesty was applied in similar situations in other countries, like Croatia, she said.
Martin Sajdik, the OSCE envoy to the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine, had said earlier that the participants in the Group's negotiations in Minsk on Tuesday, had drawn up an unofficial working document on amnesty for Donbas combatants.
"No specific and substantive documents were drafted" on December 15, Herashchenko said.
An amnesty bill will be adopted, not by the Minsk subgroups, but by the Ukrainian parliament, where "this bill will be discussed and debated," she said.
"At the same time, Ukraine firmly adheres to the following principles: there is a need to implement the clause of the Minsk Agreements on the liberation of hostages, and there are 139 of them held [by the militia] as of now! They are being tortured, and a Red Cross mission is not allowed [to be admitted] to them," she added.
Herashchenko also insisted that amnesty should be declared after a full ceasefire is achieved, rather than amid the ongoing conflict.