Leader of the Radical Party Oleh Liashko forecasts that the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, will not consider the dismissal of Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin on Thursday.
“I think they won’t do this,” he told Interfax-Ukraine answering a question whether parliamentarians are going to tackle that issue.
As was reported earlier, the Verkhovna Rada committee for legislative support of law enforcement activity on March 16 recommended that parliament should support a draft resolution giving the consent to the dismissal of Shokin. Out of the committee members who were present at the meeting, 10 voted for the decision, four were against and three refrained.
Shokin was not present at the March 16 meeting. Some lawmakers said they would like to hear his report before they decide on his dismissal.
As was reported earlier, President Petro Poroshenko said in his address to the nation on February 16 that he had asked Shokin to step down.
On February 19, presidential press secretary Sviatoslav Tseholko confirmed that Shokin’s letter of resignation had arrived at the presidential administration.
On the same day, Poroshenko tabled a motion in parliament to dismiss Shokin. Presidential envoy in parliament Stepan Kubiv has been authorized to announce the motion at a parliament meeting.
On February 22 a draft resolution on MPs’ consent to dismiss the chief prosecutor was registered on the parliament’s website.
PGO prosecutor Vladyslav Kutsenko seven days later announced that Shokin had taken a regular, paid leave.
Shokin was appointed Prosecutor General in February 2015. Under the Ukrainian Constitution, the Prosecutor General should be appointed and dismissed by the president with the parliament’s consent. However, lawmakers could hold a vote of no-confidence, after which the Prosecutor General should resign if there is a required number of votes.
