The Verkhovna Rada’s law enforcement committee has agreed to register a parliamentary motion to dismiss Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, a powerful, but highly controversial official who has held his post for over six years.
The 20-member Golos (“Voice”) faction drafted the motion and announced the committee’s decision on June 17. Now, it is up to parliament to decide whether the interior minister should keep his job.
For Avakov to be fired, 226 lawmakers must support the motion. As a result, all eyes are on the Servant of the People party, which has a comfortable 248-vote majority.
Led by President Volodymyr Zelensky, Servant of the People has stood by Avakov, reappointing him as minister twice.
But the motion to dismiss Avakov comes amid a new wave of dissatisfaction with the interior minister, who reformers and non-governmental watchdogs accuse of sabotaging police reform and high-profile investigations during his long tenure.
Scandals
The recent drive to remove Avakov from office gained strength after the interior ministry found itself entrenched in a number of scandals.
In May, police in the small town of Kaharlyk in Kyiv Oblast allegedly raped and tortured a woman and assaulted a man. That same month, over 20 people took part in a gunfight over private bus routes in the town of Brovary in the greater Kyiv metropolitan area, resulting in charges of hooliganism.
Both cases underscored lawlessness within the police and the broader weakness of law enforcement in Ukraine.
During an interview with the Ukrainska Pravda news site recorded on June 3, Zelensky said that “the minister should be responsible for such things.”
However, the president did not ask Avakov to resign as a result of the scandals.
Avakov is a versatile politician. He became minister in February 2014, survived numerous corruption allegations involving his son and deputy and managed to keep his job under three different presidents and four prime ministers.
Avakov denies all accusations against him and says that what happened in Kaharlyk could happen in any other country.
Read More: Is Arsen Avakov invincible?
On June 5, as parliament questioned Avakov about police investigations, hundreds of people protested in front of the parliament building, demanding the minister’s resignation.
A protester holds a sign as he attends a protest near the parliament building in downtown Kyiv demanding the resignation of Interior Minister Arsen Avakov on June 5, 2020. (Oleg Petrasiuk)
That same day, lawmakers from the opposition Golos party began gathering signatures for Avakov’s removal. They also filed a draft bill to dismiss Avakov from the government.
There are two legal ways in which lawmakers can sack a minister: 150 lawmakers can sign a petition, which obligates the speaker to put the document to a vote, or lawmakers can register a bill that must be greenlighted by the authorized parliamentary committee and then presented in parliament for a vote.
Ultimately, the second option succeeded.
Over the past months, the Kyiv Post has done a number of stories on Avakov:
- Is Arsen Avakov invincible?
- Avakov’s rise from Kharkiv to the summit of power in Kyiv
- Nowhere In Sight: Drive for rule of law falters 9 months into Zelensky’s presidency
- These are some of the criminal cases that Avakov is accused of sabotaging
- New secret police unit prompts fears of pressure on activists, businesses
