Ukraine amnesty will come into force, say prosecutors

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Ukraine protesters leave City Hall in Kiev

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Ukraine's protests

• 'We're all affected'
• Radicalised country
• Crisis explained
• Protest leaders

An amnesty for anti-government protesters in Ukraine will come into force on Monday, prosecutors have confirmed.

The prosecutor's website said criminal charges would be dropped in response to the protesters' decision to end their occupation of government buildings.

By leaving the City Hall and other locations, they met the government's conditions under an amnesty law.

Protesters had held some of the buildings for more than two months.

The BBC's David Stern in Kiev says protesters have also partially dismantled barricades on a street in the centre of the capital.

However, a group of radical protesters are also reported to have blocked the entrance to the City Hall building, shortly after other opposition supporters vacated it.

They are not thought to have entered the building itself.

The protests started in November when President Viktor Yanukovych abandoned plans to sign a far-reaching association agreement with the EU.

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Analysis

David Stern BBC News, Kiev

The activists' decision to leave government buildings, including Kiev's city hall, and dismantle some barricades is a significant concession, and may ultimately contribute to resolving Ukraine's political crisis.
But as with all previous concessions, both from the opposition and the government, it comes with conditions - and, as such, does not amount to a breakthrough.
The protest camp now expects to see the government respond by dropping all criminal proceedings against anti-government demonstrators. But officials may decide that activists have not fulfilled all demands of the amnesty law.
And of course there remains the protesters' primary condition that President Viktor Yanukovych leave office. Until that requirement is met, activists say the Euromaidan movement will continue - and they could re-occupy the buildings that they have recently evacuated.

Instead, he advocated closer trade relations with Russia, which dominated Ukraine for centuries until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Prisoners released

Protesters left City Hall on Sunday morning.

The Swiss ambassador in Kiev entered the building soon afterwards to help transfer it to the control of the authorities.

Switzerland currently holds the rotating presidency of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

On Friday authorities feed the last of 243 prisoners who were arrested during the unrest.

Mr Yanukovich passed an amnesty law last month and agreed to negotiate with the opposition after at least four people were killed in protests.

This weekend, some opposition members continued to call for his departure, and another demonstration is due to take place in Kiev's central Independence Square.

"The only subject of negotiation with Yanukovych is the conditions of his departure," jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko said on Saturday.

She went on to accuse the Ukrainian president of being under the control of Russia's Vladimir Putin, his major international backer.

Opposition activists confronted more extreme elements who wanted to retake City Hall on Sunday

Elsewhere in Kiev, government opponents joined together for a rousing chorus of the national anthem