You're reading: Yatseniuk: Opposition proposes its own amendments to law on decriminalization

The opposition's amendments to the presidential bill on the decriminalization of the Criminal Code's article, under which former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was charged, have been submitted to the concerned committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Front for Change Party leader and Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense MP Arseniy Yatseniuk has said.

"These amendments have been worked out by [BYT-Batkivschyna faction] deputy [Serhiy] Vlasenko. They were agreed upon and, according to Vlasenko, submitted to the concerned committee," he said at a briefing on Wednesday.

Yatseniuk added that he considered it necessary to consider the amendments in parliament on October 18.

"I think that on Tuesday [October 18], the parliament should consider the amendments introduced by the opposition to the Criminal Code, and Article 365 [of the Criminal Code] should be decriminalized. This is a courageous step, and if the Ukrainian president signs this law on the same day, this will mean that the authorities will face minimal losses in this situation," he said.

As reported, on October 6, 2011, the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament approved at first reading President Viktor Yanukovych’s bill proposing to decriminalize offences for a number of crimes committed in the economic sector. Tymoshenko’s supporters in parliament have been seeking the decriminalization of the article, under which the ex-premier was charged.

It was reported earlier that the Pechersky District Court in Kyiv found Ukraine’s ex-prime minister and leader of the Batkivschyna party Yulia Tymoshenko guilty of exceeding her authority while signing gas contracts with Russia and sentenced her to seven years in prison. Tymoshenko was also banned from holding public office for three years.