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Top human rights body condemns Ukraine rebel vote

PACE president deplored parliamentary and presidential elections in self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk

31.10.2014 - Update : 31.10.2014
Top human rights body condemns Ukraine rebel vote

PARIS

The upcoming elections in Ukraine's self-proclaimed separatist republics are illegitimate and in violation of an earlier ceasefire between Ukraine and rebels, the head of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has said.

“I deplore the decision of the self-appointed authorities of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics to hold ‘parliamentary elections’ and ‘presidential elections’ on 2 November 2014," Anne Brasseur, PACE president, announced in an online statement on Friday.

"They are in violation of the Minsk Protocol signed on 5 September and will hinder the implementation of the already fragile peace agreement. They are illegitimate and will not be recognized by the Assembly," she continued.

Brasseur also urged Russia not to recognize the elections in the rebel regions, and to emphasize its full commitment to the ceasefire.

Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in March following the removal of pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych a month earlier.

Following months of fighting, a cease-fire agreement between Kiev and eastern pro-Russian separatists was signed on September 5 in Minsk.

Crimea and most parts of the eastern region of Donbas, which are still not under the full control of the Ukrainian authorities, did not participate in Ukrainian parliamentary elections last week.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a law on October 16 granting "special status" to local authorities in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, which he said would allow them to rule themselves for three years and laid the ground for local elections to be held in the regions in December.

However, pro-Russian separatists refused to recognize the law and declared parliamentary and presidential elections on November 2 in the regions under their control.

www.aa.com.tr/en

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