The opposition plans to take all possible measures to prevent the arrest of Batkivschyna faction member Serhiy Vlasenko, who has been stripped of his parliamentary powers.
“We will do everything so that Vlasenko is not arrested, including with the assistance of our Western partners,” Batkivschyna leader Arseniy Yatseniuk said at a briefing on Thursday.
When asked whether it is true that the opposition plans to nominate Vlasenko as a candidate for MP in one of the five single-member constituencies in order to protect him from possible arrest, Yatseniuk said: “The truth is that Serhiy Vlasenko was illegally deprived of his mandate.”
However, he refused to answer this question.
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.
Yatseniuk said on Wednesday that Vlasenko could be arrested soon.
