Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has signed a number of laws that were passed by the parliament at an offsite meeting at the assembly hall of the parliamentary committees on Bankova Street in Kyiv on April 4.
A posting on the president’s Web site reads that Yanukovych has signed law No. 163-VII amending the Budget Code of Ukraine regarding determination of some of budget incomes, law No. 164-VII amending Supplement No. 3 to the law of Ukraine on the state budget of Ukraine for 2013, and law No. 181-VII amending the law of Ukraine on the state budget of Ukraine for 2013.
The head of state also signed law No. 159-VII of April 2 on joining Ukraine to the Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, their Parts and Components and Ammunition, which supplements the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.
As reported, on April 4, 2013 the members of the parliamentary majority held the parliament’s sitting at the assembly hall of a parliamentary committee, as the session hall at Hrushevskoho Street was blocked by the opposition.
Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Rybak signed the bills that were passed at the sitting and sent them to the president for signing.
The opposition called on the parliamentary speaker and the president not to sign the bills that were passed outside the parliamentary building claiming that the sitting was illegal.
On April 12, the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine ruled that the Verkhovna Rada’s sitting on April 4 was legal.
