You're reading: Court to try Ukrainian Justice Ministry lawsuit seeking ban on Communist Party

Ukrainian Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko said the Ukrainian Justice Ministry will try the lawsuit seeking a ban on the Communist Party of Ukraine regardless of whether the party gets into the new parliament.

Petrenko told reporters in Kyiv on Thursday that the trial of the lawsuit, which was filed by the Justice Ministry and the State Register, has been adjourned again until Nov. 5.

“I hope the case will be tried on its merits at the next hearing,” the minister said.

Petrenko said the Communist Party is trying to delay the trial.

Responding to a question as to what the plaintiffs will do if the Communist Party makes it to the new Verkhovna Rada, the minister said: “We will complete these court proceedings, regardless of the election outcome, because the Justice Ministry’s lawsuit is a legal document based on evidence and has no political component.”

“If the court decided to ban [the Communist Party], we will fulfill this decision in accordance with the legislation requirements,” the minister said.

According to earlier reports, the Ukrainian Justice Ministry has asked the Kyiv District Administrative Court to ban the Communist Party.

Hanna Onischenko, the head of Ukraine’s State Registration Service, said in July that 308 criminal cases had been opened against members of the Ukrainian Communist Party. She said there was evidence that the party’s administration had openly supported the inclusion of Crimea into the Russian Federation and the creation of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics and financed the Donbas militia.

On Sept. 4, the Kyiv District Administrative Court again indefinitely postponed the hearing of the lawsuit filed by the Justice Ministry and the State Register seeking a ban on the Communist Party.

On Sept. 5, Petrenko said the Justice Ministry might have initiated the recusal of the Kyiv District Administrative Court, which is trying the lawsuit seeking a ban on the Ukrainian Communist Party, because the Communist Party was trying to the delay the proceedings.