The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine has taken note of statements made by the U.S. Department of State and the European Union regarding the situation with Batkivschyna parliamentary faction MP Serhiy Vlasenko, who is a member of the defense team of jailed former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
“We have taken note of the statement of the U.S. Department of State, as well as a relevant statement of the EU High Representative [for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton] and European Commissioner for Enlargement [and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fule] regarding some aspects of the developments in Ukraine,” Acting Director of the Foreign Ministry’s Information Policy Department Yevhen Perebyinis told a Wednesday press briefing.
At the same time, he stressed that the Ukrainian legislation clearly regulates the situation with the annulment of people’s deputies’ mandates and the issue should be considered at the level of legislation.
“We think this situation should be considered exclusively at the level of legislation and Ukraine is committed to the commitments it undertook during the EU-Ukraine Summit,” he said.
As reported, on March 6 the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine continued to consider a lawsuit to deprive Vlasenko of his parliamentary mandate due to his the fact that he practices advocacy and is a people’s deputy at the same time.
The U.S. Department of State said that an attempt to strip MP Serhiy Vlasenko of his seat in parliament appears to be politically motivated due to his connection with the imprisoned former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
The leader of the Greens/European Free Alliance group in the European Parliament, Rebecca Harms, in turn, said that the consideration by the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine of a lawsuit to deprive Vlasenko of his parliamentary mandate is an example of the poor condition of the judicial system in Ukraine.
