Right Sector leader suggests amnesty for participants in Mukachevo clashes

World July 17, 2015, 19:57

According to Dmytro Yarosh, they deserve an amnesty as participants in a military operation in Ukraine’s south-eastern Donbas

KIEV, July 17. /TASS/. The leader of Ukraine’s extremist group Right Sector suggested on Friday an amnesty for members of his group who had taken part in clashes with local authorities in Mukachevo, Ukraine’s southwestern Transcarpathian Region.

Dmytro Yarosh said they deserved an amnesty as participants in a military operation in Ukraine’s south-eastern Donbas.

He warned the authorities and law enforcement officers of Mukachevo against killing members of the organization who were hiding in the woodland. "We will have to protect our fighters, and not only there, as liquidation will take place not only in Transcarpathian Region," Yarosh said.

He also said he expected support from the local population.

In developments of Saturday, July 11, in the city of Mukachevo, some 20 militants of the Right Sector extremist organization opened fire from small arms during a conflict with their opponents with whom they discussed "distribution of influence areas".

The extremists then opened fire from assault rifles, heavy machineguns and grenade launchers at police officers who arrived at the site, destroyed several police vehicles, as well as set on fire a traffic police checkpoint and a filling station. Three people were killed, and another 11 were wounded. Prosecutors classified what happened in Mukachevo as a terrorist attack.

The Ukrainian General Prosecutor’s Office reports that 12 members of the Right Sector participating in the conflict have been identified, four of them detained. The whereabouts of six people is still not known. Search for them continues.

In November 2014, the Russian Supreme Court outlawed the Right Sector as an extremist organization.

Extremist group leader seeks resignation of Poroshenko, Rada and government

The leader of the Ukrainian Right Sector extremist group outlawed in Russia spoke on Friday in favor of resignation of the president, cabinet and parliament.

"I can see that the president of Ukraine is not in the right place either as the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces or as the person that efficiently heads the state," Dmitry Yarosh told a news conference.

"It is time to speak about the resignation of the president and dissolution of Verkhovna Rada [the parliament], which remains a puppet it has used to be, as well as the resignation of the Cabinet," he said, adding that "a new system or co-ordinates must be built in the state".

In his opinion, the regime of President Pyotr Poroshenko is in no way better than the regime of former President Viktor Yanukovich. "We are well aware that transformation of the Yanukovich’s regime into the regime of Poroshenko proceeded systematically," he said.

"We can also see this in personnel appointments that take place across Ukraine, we see it in the way former members of the Party of Regions in Verkhovna Rada behave, in other ways we are witnessing a consistent counter-revolution," Yarosh said.

At the moment, members of Right Sector are staging actions all over Ukraine. In particular, rallies in Kiev continue nonstop at the building of the presidential administration with protesters demanding the sacking of Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and "a fair investigation into the events in Mukachevo".

Right Sector planning new protests in Ukraine

The leader of Ukraine’s extremist group Right Sector said on Friday it was planning new protest actions in Ukraine.

"We are planning a large-scale action on Maidan (Independence Square), and it will be just the beginning. We will decide everything at a congress," he told a news conference, adding that there were no plans as of yet to pitch tents on the square.

The Right Sector leader said "actions will continue in another form," without specifying what he implied.

He also reminded the audience about a veche (popular assembly) in the capital Kiev, scheduled for Sunday.

At the moment, members of Right Sector are staging actions all over Ukraine. In particular, rallies in Kiev continue nonstop at the building of the presidential administration with protesters demanding the sacking of Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and "a fair investigation into the events in Mukachevo".

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