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Parliament speaker suggests revoking law on amnesty for eastern Ukraine militias

The law was adopted by the Rada September 16 but has not been signed by the speaker of the parliament or by President Petro Poroshenko, so it has not taken effect

KIEV, November 5. /TASS/. Ukrainian parliament speaker Oleksandr Turchynov on Tuesday registered in the Verkhovna Rada a draft resolution on revocation of the law on amnesty for participants of clashes in Donbass (Donetsk and Luhansk regions in southeastern Ukraine seeking independence from Kiev).

The law was adopted by the Rada September 16 but has not been signed by the speaker of the parliament or by President Petro Poroshenko, so it has not taken effect.

Poroshenko earlier said those who committed crimes under Criminal Code articles covering premeditated murder, terrorism, attempts to kill a state figure, a law enforcement officer, a judge, rape, looting, vandalism and some other articles designed to ensure state integrity do not fall under the amnesty.

Amnesty for participants of the conflict in southeastern Ukraine was a key point of the Minsk agreements signed by the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine in early September.

Fierce clashes between troops loyal to Kiev and local militias in southeast Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions during Kiev’s military operation, conducted since mid-April, to regain control over the breakaway territories, which call themselves the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s republics, have killed over 4,000 people.

The parties to the Ukrainian conflict agreed on a ceasefire at talks mediated by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on September 5 in Belarusian capital Minsk.