In a decision almost certain to worsen relations between Ukraine and the West, a high court in Ukraine stripped Serhiy Vlasenko of his seat in parliament – and the legal immunity that goes with it – opening the way, some fear, to his possible arrest.
The High Administrative Court of Ukraine ruled on March 6 that Vlasenko combined his parliament job with duties as a lawyer, violating a number of laws and the Constitution. Vlasenko has served as legal counsel for imprisoned ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
The opposition claims that at least 11 deputies from the ruling Party of Regions are combining their job in parliament with other duties, in an apparent breach of law that requires them to choose one activity.
The appeal to strip Vlasenko of his parliament seat was filed by Verkhovna Rada Speaker Volodymyr Rybak and was approved unanimously by a panel of five judges at the High Administrative Court. It cannot be appealed in Ukraine, but will be appealed at the European Court for Human Rights.
Vlasenko’s is the third case recently in which an oppositional parliament member has lost a seat by court ruling, heightening fears that the court system continues to be politically manipulated and may be used in the future to alter the results of presidential election in 2015.
“There will be no election in 2015,” said Arseniy Yatseniuk, leader of the minority Batkivshchyna Party faction in parliament. “Whoever wins the election, five mummer judges will rule that the election is won by (President Viktor) Yanukovych.”
In the meantime, there are immediate concerns over Vlasenko’s fate.
Fearing arrest, he disappeared from public following the court ruling. On his Facebook page, he said that the authorities are acting according to plan. “The first step they have done. The next step is clear from their point of view and logic — it’s arrest,” he wrote.
There are several criminal cases pending against Vlasenko, all stemming from his very public and nasty divorce with model Natalya Okunska. In an open letter to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, she said she is suing him for violence against her, failure to comply with court orders to pay child support and failure to divide up assets.
In January, Vlasenko said Okunska is also accusing him of banditry and assault, punishable by up to seven years in prison.
Yatseniuk said the opposition “will do everything so that Vlasenko is not arrested, including with the help of our Western partners.” Some observers speculated that Vlasenko will seek shelter in foreign embassies.
Yatseniuk also said Vlasenko was “illegally stripped of his mandate because he was defending Yulia Tymoshenko.”
Vlasenko has been the top defender and trustee of Tymoshenko, the former prime minister who is in the second year of a seven-year prison sentence for signing a gas deal with Russia in 2009 while in power.
The Ukrainian authorities were warned against stripping Vlasenko of his status in parliament. Several top European and U.S. officials made statements right before his court hearing against using the legal system for further political prosecutions.
In particular, High Representative Catherine Ashton and Commissioner Stefan Fuele of the European Union on March 5 called on the Ukrainian authorities “to address this situation so as to avoid creating any perception of misuse of the judiciary for political purposes. “
The U.S. State Department said the actions against Vlasenko “appear to be politically motivated due to his connection with Mrs. Tymoshenko.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel also warned Ukraine’s ambassador about the case, according to German media.
In response, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry issued an indignant statement condemning “political statements” on behalf of the U.S. State Department and other institutions and warning that they are “creating a perception that some foreign politicians allow for the possibility of avoidance of responsibility before law for representatives of the opposition.”
But despite the brave rhetoric, the court’s ruling on Vlasenko made it clear that Ukraine is moving further from signing the association agreement with the European Union later this year, one of the conditions for which is to stop political prosecutions and fix the distrusted legal system.
Moreover, the opposition has argued that the case against Vlasenko was built with violations of procedures. For example, the committee on ethics and rules of procedure, which issued a ruling dated Feb. 27 to strip Vlasenko of his deputy mandate, failed to produce any evidence that it gathered on the day.
Yatseniuk said on March 5 that only five of 17 members of the commission were in Kyiv when their meeting allegedly took place. Party of Regions representatives, who hold the majority in the commission, refuted the accusations.
Opposition members said they will continue to block parliament over the ruling on Vlasenko until Yanukovych shows up in the session hall to answer questions, said Vitali Klitschko, leader of Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform Party. Parliament was paralyzed this week, following just 11 days of normal work after the previous blockade.
Kyiv Post editor Katya Gorchinskaya can be reached at gorchinskaya@kyivpost.com.
