Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has proposed that the Verkhovna Rada amend the law on government awards by introducing the Order of the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred.
A bill to that effect was posted on the Ukrainian parliament’s Web site on Thursday.
According to the explanatory note to the bill, the Order will be introduced “to award individuals for civic courage, patriotism, defending the constitutional principles of democracy, human rights and liberties, active charitable, humanistic and public work in Ukraine, the selfless service to the Ukrainian people, and the merits demonstrated during the Revolution (November 2013 – February 2014) and other events involving the defense of the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”
The bill also gives instructions to the Ukrainian Cabinet, in particular, to organize a nationwide competition for the best sketch of the badge of the order of the heroes of Heavenly Hundred and the manufacturing of the government award attributes.
The Heavenly Hundred is the name given to those who were killed in clashes between supporters and opponents of Ukraine’s European integration between November 2013 and February 2014.
According to the Ukrainian Health Care Ministry, 104 people were killed on Maidan in Kyiv during this period, most of them as a result of an armed standoff on February 18-20. Subsequently they were christened as the Heavenly Hundred.
