The decision to strip Serhiy Vlasenko of his parliamentary mandate is an attempt to subvert the will of the Ukrainian people who elected him a people's deputy, as well as to destroy the opposition and the parliamentary system in Ukraine, the Batkivschyna Party said in a statement late on Wednesday.
The decision by the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine to deprive Vlasenko of his mandate is part of the task of the current authorities on the final conversion of the Verkhovna Rada “into a puppet body of the presidential administration, and the elimination of democracy as such.”
“Through similar judicial decisions this anti-people regime is effectively canceling the results of the parliamentary elections in Ukraine,” reads the statement.
“We also understand that another reason for depriving Serhiy Vlasenko of his deputy mandate is the personal desire of [Ukrainian President Viktor] Yanukovych to complicate the opposition’s communication with its opposition leader, Yulia Tymoshenko, and weaken the whole system of her legal defense, in which professional lawyer Serhiy Vlasenko, a defense counsel, plays a strategic role,” reads the statement.
Batkivschyna also said that the European Court of Human Rights to which the party will appeal regarding the cancellation of this judicial decision, “will make a fair decision on this case, based on the current precedents.”
As reported, on March 6, 2013, the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine ruled to annul Vlasenko’s parliamentary mandate.
Thus, the court upheld a relevant lawsuit of Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Rybak.
Rybak explained his appeal to the court by the fact that Vlasenko practices advocacy and is a people’s deputy at the same time.
Vlasenko is a member of the defense team of jailed former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in a number of criminal cases against her.
