You're reading: Parliament to send bill on restriction of deputy immunity to Constitutional Court

The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, has decided to send to the Constitutional Court a finished bill on restrictions on deputies' immunity from prosecution.

A total of 236 of the 270 MPs registered in the sitting hall voted for the decision.

Presidential representative at the parliament Yuriy Miroshnychenko said that the profile committee has finished work on the document, incorporating a ruling of the Constitutional Court on the document dated April 1, 2010.

The committee recommended that parliament send the final version of the bill to the court to check whether it is in line with the constitution.

“This bill deals with the cancellation of immunity of all officials. But when the Constitutional Court considered this bill and analyzed it according to Articles 157 and 158, it ruled that some of its provisions, in particular on the immunity of the president and judges, are unconstitutional. As a result, the Verkhovna Rada, removed these items from the text,” Miroshnychenko said.

“Now, according to the constitutional procedure, we have to send this bill to the Constitutional Court,” he added.

Miroshnychenko said that criminal cases may be opened and investigated against people’s deputies, while they may be detained or imprisoned only as soon as a court ruling takes effect.

“Thus, the immunity, or inviolability, will be significantly restricted, and in fact any deputy could undergo all legal proceedings [related to responsibility for law infringement],” he said.

Miroshnychenko added that the bill guarantees freedom of political activities and freedom of criticism for deputies.