Remember international financial institutions and civil society movements had called for Shokhin to be removed as a step towards cleaning up the public prosecutor’s office.
The problems run much deeper than one individual though.
President Petro Poroshenko asked Shokhin to resign and he “usefully” went off on holiday (on Feb. 16, a day after Deputy Prosecutor General Vitaliy Kasko resigned, citing ongoing obstruction of justice by Shokin.)
This seemed to calm criticism down a bit – buying time perhaps for Poroshenko to regroup.
Now Shokhin has returned to work, and the Rada needs to vote to remove him.
I am hearing that there may not now be a majority, in fact, to remove him, which will be a huge disappointment to the reformers, and the international financial institutions.
I think if one issue acts as a clarion call now for the future of the technocrats in any future administration, it is what happens to Shokhin and reform in the Prosecutor General’s Office more generally.
If Shokhin stays, then many people will really question Poroshenko’s commitment to rule of law as they will argue that the old guard remains in charge.
