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Georgian national killed in clashes in central Kiev – Georgian ambassador

Kiev’s police have confirmed the death of the Georgian citizen, Zurab Khurtsia, 54

Situation in Kiev EPA/IGOR KOVALENKO

Situation in Kiev

© EPA/IGOR KOVALENKO

TBILISI, February 18. /ITAR-TASS/. A Georgian national has been killed in clashes in the Ukrainian capital city Kiev, Georgian Ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Ukleb told the Imedi television company on Tuesday.

According to the diplomat, Kiev’s police have confirmed the death of the Georgian citizen, Zurab Khurtsia, 54. “The police told us that they had opened a criminal case over Khurtsia’s death,” Ukleb said.

Khurtsia, who has been lining in Kiev over the recent years, was found dead in Institutskaya Street in central Kiev, near the Independence Square, the venue of ongoing protest actions.

Ukraine has been hit by anti-government protests since the authorities refused to sign an association agreement with the European Union at a summit in Vilnius in November 2013 and opted for closer ties with Russia instead. The protests have often turned into riots.

The Ukrainian authorities adopted tougher laws for public order violations in mid-January, which triggered another wave of protests, with three protesters believed to have been killed, and up to 200 police injured. The laws were later repealed.

Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov resigned on January 28, and the Ukrainian leadership also decided to pardon participants of riots on the condition protesters vacated state and local power institutions they seized within 15 days. The initial reaction of opposition leaders to the amnesty law that entered into force February 2 was defiant and skeptical.

Meanwhile, Kiev’s police reported Tuesday that the building of the city state administration had been seized again by protesters who threw Molotov cocktails.

Earlier, protesters held the building for over 2.5 months, but vacated it on February 16 to observe the amnesty law adopted by the authorities.

The amnesty law, designed in particular to “prevent prosecution and punishment of people in connection with events that took place during peaceful rallies,” envisions a pardon for all people who took part in riots during mass anti-government demonstrations in Ukraine except for those who committed grave crimes.

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