On Jan. 31, Ukraine’s president Viktor Yanukovych signed a bill into law that gives amnesty to detained anti-government protesters. The amnesty takes effect if protesters leave seized government buildings and stop demonstrating publicly.

Protests have raged since November, when thousands of people stormed the country’s capital, Kiev, because the government chose not to sign a political and economic treaty with the European Union in favor of an economic agreement with Russia. The opposition hopes to encourage closer ties to Europe rather than Vladimir Putin’s Russian government.

Tensions have increased recently after Dmytro Bulatov, a protestor, said he was kidnapped, beaten and abandoned.

The Daily Orange spoke to Brian Taylor, an associate professor of political science, about the amnesty bill’s significance and what the future holds for Ukraine.

The Daily Orange: What does the amnesty bill do for Ukraine and its citizens?

Brian Taylor: The amnesty is designed for people who have been arrested or detained during the protests over the last two months in Ukraine.  The protests broke out in late November after Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych declined to sign a proposed association agreement with the European Union.  Instead, Yanukovych reached an agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin that provided financial assistance and lower natural gas prices for Ukraine.  There is a provision in the amnesty law that makes its implementation conditional upon the opposition vacating the government buildings and public square they’ve occupied in Kiev. At this point, it’s unclear if the amnesty will go into effect or what the consequences will be. The opposition has been rejecting the amnesty in the specific form in which it’s been proposed.

 

The D.O.: Why did Viktor Yanukovych sign the amnesty bill?

B.T.: Yanukovych has been under considerable pressure from the protests in Kiev and elsewhere in Ukraine since late November. The amnesty is part of a series of attempts by him to weaken opposition and to hold onto power.

 

The D.O.: Last week, Dmytro Bulatov was released from his captors and showed substantial evidence of being tortured. Is this treatment common for protestors in Ukraine?

B.T.: There’s still a lot of uncertainty about what exactly happened in that case. This morning Bulatov left Ukraine for medical treatment. I would not say this treatment is common. There have been reports of protesters being abducted, kidnapped, beaten, that sort of activity. But his treatment and injuries seem extreme compared to the other cases.

 

The D.O.: What’s next for Ukraine?

B.T.: The situation in Ukraine is still completely unresolved. The amnesty bill has had little effect on it. The basic issue is whether the opposition leadership and President Yanukovych will be able to arrive at some sort of compromise agreement, which would involve power-sharing and constitutional changes, or whether they’ll remain in the stalemate situation they have been in the last couple of months. Or, presumably, the third option would be an attempt by the government to disperse the protesters, but it seems unlikely that they have enough support within the police and the military to do that successfully.

Published on February 5, 2014 at 12:55 am

Contact Ellen: ekmeyers@syr.edu | @ellenkmeyers