Pechersky District Court in Kyiv has dismissed a petition of a defense lawyer of Yaroslav Prytulenko, who was arrested in connection with riots near the presidential administration on December 1, 2013, for his release from custody and dropping criminal proceedings against him.

The court passed this ruling at its meeting on Wednesday.

"The current legislation does not provide for a mechanism of implementation of the law (on the amnesty of participants of pro-European rallies), to which Prytulenko's defense lawyer refers, which currently makes it impossible to apply it in practice," prosecutor Oleh Fedorchuk said.

Prytulenko was not brought to the hearing. The judge dismissed the defense lawyer's motion for his delivery, offering to hear his evidence via video conference.

As reported, on December 1, Kyiv's Shevchenkivsky District Court ordered the detention for two months of all nine persons suspected of organizing mass riots on Bankova Street near the Presidential Administration on December 1.

All nine arrested people previously had no problems with law, and were not members of political parties. These are journalist Valeriy Harahuts, long-distance truck driver Vladyslav Zahovorko, trade employee Hennadiy Cherevko, private entrepreneur Yuriy Bolotov, photographer Serhiy Nuzhnenko, shop assistant Yaroslav Prytulenko, designer Mykola Lazarevsky, architect Oleksandr Ostaschenko and IT student Yehor Previr.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych signed a law on eliminating negative consequences and preventing prosecution or punishment of individuals in regard to events that took place during peaceful rallies in Ukraine on December 23. The document took effect on December 26.

The law stipulates that all criminal cases opened against rally participants since November 21 should be closed and individuals should be released. These people are considered to have no convictions.

New criminal cases and cases on administrative offences cannot be open on participants of protest rallies or large-scale events held since November 21 until the law comes into effect.