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‘All-for-all’ prisoner swap with Kiev is pointless without amnesty law — DPR envoy

Earlier, DPR’s human rights ombudsman Darya Morozova said that the republic was holding 42 Ukrainian prisoners on its territory

© Valeriy Sharifulin/TASS

MOSCOW, September 5 /TASS/. An ‘all-for-all’ prisoner exchange formula will be ineffective and meaningless, if Ukraine keeps refusing to adopt an amnesty law as set out by the Minsk agreements, Denis Pushilin, the chief envoy of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic at negotiations with the Contact Group for the Ukraine settlement, told a roundtable meeting held at TASS on Monday.

Earlier, DPR’s human rights ombudsman Darya Morozova said that the republic was holding 42 Ukrainian prisoners on its territory, compared to at least 964 people being held captive by the Ukrainian side.

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Donetsk republic says got no Kiev’s proposals on prisoner swap

"In addition to that, they keep detaining and arresting people regularly. Even if we exchange everybody according to the ‘all-for-all’ formula, we are going to have new prisoners and detainees in a week or two. And this will be endless, unless an amnesty law is passed," Pushilin stressed.

He added that despite an active media propaganda campaign, Donetsk had received no official proposals on prisoner swaps from Kiev so far. "We insist on adopting the amnesty law, the only document, which would allow the implementation of points 5 and 6 of the (Minsk 2) package of measures (designed to enact the Minsk agreements)," the DPR envoy concluded.

The prisoner swaps are one of the key points of the Minsk 2 package of measures, which the Contact Group signed on February 12, 2015 with the aim of carrying out the Minsk agreements. The package of measures also provides for granting amnesty to all participants in the Donbass conflict and obliges Ukraine to adopt and enforce a law banning any prosecution and punishment of persons involved in the events that took place in some parts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

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