The Constitutional Court on June 6 declared constitutional an opposition bill on lifting lawmakers’ immunity from prosecution immediately, Constitutional Court Chairman Stanislav Shevchuk has told the Kyiv Post.
To become law, the bill still has to be approved by a constitutional majority of 300 Verkhovna Rada members, and then be signed by the president.
In October, parliament gave preliminarily approval to two bills on lifting lawmakers’ immunity, and sent them to the Constitutional Court, after thousands of protesters rallied outside the Rada and demanded the reform.
The opposition bill envisages lifting immunity immediately, while the presidential bill seeks to lift immunity starting from 2020. The Constitutional Court will also consider the presidential bill.
The president’s bill has been criticized as a deception by the opposition. Opposition lawmakers said that President Petro Poroshenko and his allies may use it as a PR stunt before the 2019 election, and the next parliament may delay the lifting of lawmakers’ immunity even further.
The pro-presidential Bloc of Petro Poroshenko faction in parliament, however, argues that it has no intention of postponing the measure after 2020.
The opposition also argued that the presidential bill was submitted in violation of parliamentary procedure. The Bloc of Petro Poroshenko faction denied this.
