No documents on amnesty discussed or adopted at trilateral group meeting in Minsk
Ukraine's representative at the humanitarian subgroup and a parliamentarian from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction Iryna Heraschenko has refuted a statement that a document on amnesty was agrees at a meeting of the trilateral contact group on Donbas settlement in Minsk on December 15.
"Regarding the amnesty, I responsibly declare that no bills have been discussed, let alone adopted, on December 15, during a meeting of subgroups in Minsk, nor during previous discussions either at the political subgroup meeting (I know this from my colleagues Roman Bezsmertny and Volodymyr Horbulin), nor during the meeting of our humanitarian subgroup," she wrote on her Facebook page on Wednesday morning.
Heraschenko stressed that the Ukrainian side is studying the experience of amnesty in other countries, such as Croatia.
According to the MP, the amnesty law cannot be passed by the Minsk group. It can only be adopted by the Ukrainian parliament, "that is where the bill will be discussed and debated."
"At the same time Ukraine insists on the following: the clause of Minsk agreement on the release of hostages, 139 of whom are currently held by militants, should be fulfilled! They are being tortured, they are not allowed to see the Red Cross mission," Heraschenko added.
She also said that the amnesty should be passed after the final cease-fire, not while the conflict continues. "And there should be a clear distinction of crimes and persons, who do not fall under any amnesty, these are those involved in murders, tortures and other crimes against humanity," Ukraine's representative in the humanitarian subgroup summed up.
OSCE special envoy to Ukraine Martin Sajdik said on December 15 that an informal working document on amnesty for fighters in Donbas has been drafted at the talks of the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk on Tuesday.
"We now have an informal working document on amnesty in place. It has been drafted as proposed by the parties and is subject to further discussion," Sajdik said.