The Ukrainian parliament has lifted lawmakers’ immunity from prosecution, implementing a groundbreaking constitutional change that has been promised for over two decades.
The constitutional amendment was passed with an overwhelming 373-vote in favor. The majority of political factions supported the amendment. Among those voted in favor are 252 lawmakers from Servant of the People faction, 24 members of European Solidarity led by former President Petro Poroshenko, 23 lawmakers from Batkivshchyna, 22 from the For the Future group and 19 lawmakers from the Voice party.
33 independent lawmakers also supported the initiative, while zero votes were given by the 44-member pro-Russian Opposition Platform – For Life party.
Corrupt lawmakers have often abused immunity to escape punishment for crimes they committed. Previously, to prosecute a lawmaker, the authorities first needed to receive parliament’s permission and lawmakers had to vote to lift their colleague’s immunity.
The parliamentary immunity will be cancelled from Jan.1 2020.
Vasyl Nimchenko, lawmaker from Opposition Platform – For Life party, while talking to journalists after the vote, said that the process by which the lawmakers lifted the parliamentary immunity was illegal. He added that his party will ask the Constitutional Court to look into the matter.
Nimchenko, himself, is a former judge of the Constitutional Court.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reacts after lawmakers vote to lift parliamentary immunity, in Verkhovna Rada in Kyiv, on Sept. 3, 2019. (Volodymyr Petrov)
The parliament, led by President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Servant of the People party, passed a number of other constitutional amendments in their first reading during the Sept. 3 parliamentary session.
The seven bills passed in their first reading were sent them to the Constitutional Court for approval. The bills will:
- decrease the number of lawmakers from 450 to 300, who will be elected through party lists only;
- dismiss lawmakers who vote in place of their absentee colleagues and who miss more than one-third of all parliament sessions;
- give the public the right to initiate bills;
- end lawyers’ monopoly on representing clients in non-criminal cases;
- give the parliament the right to appoint special commissioners for specific fields;
- give the parliament the right to form special advisory bodies;
- give the president the right to appoint and fire heads of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the State Investigation Bureau.
To pass a constitutional amendment in the first reading, a simple majority of 226 votes was needed.
To amend the constitution, 300 lawmakers must vote for the proposed change, after the Constitutional Court grants its approval. Zelensky’s party has 254 lawmakers and also relies on opposition and independent lawmakers to pass the amendments.
Read also: What new parliament achieved on its first day
