Ivano-Frankivsk – The leader of the Third Ukrainian Republic movement, former Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko, has said that there are legal grounds to ban the Regions Party and the Communist Party.
“After the events in parliament on January 16, when, on the instructions of the Regions Party and the Communists, they adopted clearly unconstitutional and in fact fascist laws, due to which the blood of heroes and even police officers had been spilled, there are all legal grounds to ban them [the Regions Party and the Communist Party] during the investigation into murders on Hrushevskoho and Instytutska Streets,” Lutsenko said in Ivano-Frankivsk on Friday.
He noted that if the entire leadership of the Regions Party, the Communist Party, their activists and members of their government are not lustrated, then these parties should be banned.
As reported, the adoption of nine laws on January 16, 2014 caused a negative reaction from Western politicians and officials, as well as international human rights organizations.
On January 28, the Verkhovna Rada cancelled a law introducing amendments to the law on the judicial system and the status of judges and procedural laws regarding additional measures on protecting the safety of citizens, drafted by Regions Party MPs Volodymyr Oliynyk and Vadym Kolesnichenko, as well as the law introducing amendments to the Verkhovna Rada’s rules of procedure, which simplifies the procedure for granting consent for the criminal prosecution, detention or arrest of MPs who committed a crime.
In addition, they cancelled the law introducing penalties for administrative offenses in the field of road safety recorded automatically, the law on penalties for administrative violations committed during football matches, and the law introducing amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code concerning criminal proceedings in absentia.
The MPs also voted for the cancellation of the law on the exemption from criminal responsibility of participants in peaceful rallies that occurred from November 21 to December 26, 2013, the law introducing amendments to the law of Ukraine on free legal assistance regarding the postponement of the entry into force of the provisions of clause 6, section VI “Final and Transitional Provisions,” and the law introducing penalties for the desecration of graves of World War II participants comes into force on the day following the day of its publication.
They also cancelled the law introducing amendments to the Tax Code regarding the exemption of natural gas imports to Ukraine from VAT, which was suspended in late 2013.
On February 24, MPs finally cancelled the provisions of the January 16 laws.
