Горячие темы:

Lazarenko Prosecution Issue to be Decided in Late February

26 января, 00:00

By Inna ZOLOTUKHINA, The Day Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine's consent to the prosecution and arrest of People's Deputy Pavlo Lazarenko will be put on the agenda in early February, said Speaker Oleksandr Tkachenko at the meeting of the General Prosecutor's board. Mr. Tkachenko also stressed that the agenda item on the request by the General Prosecutor's Office, dated October 26, 1998, to deprive People's Deputy Mykola Ahafonov of parliamentary immunity has already been prepared by the steering committee for consideration at a session. Mr. Ahafonov has been hospitalized for two weeks, and Parliament may only hear this matter in his presence.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's Prosecutor General Mykhailo Potebenko thinks that hearing of the question of Ahafonov's immunity "has been artificially delayed by interested persons" now under investigation in connection with the case. Mr. Potebenko noted that the law On the Status of a People's Deputy of Ukraine stipulates a maximum one month term for hearing a request. On December 25 the steering committee put off hearings on the issue, justifying the decision by the fact that the hearing should be attended by the Prosecutor General himself rather than his deputy.

Addressing the board of the General Prosecutor's Office, Mr. Tkachenko expressed the opinion that "there are no political or constitutional grounds to make the Prosecutor's Office a body dealing exclusively with criminal prosecution." The Speaker also said he supported a "realistic" stand by the office and its head, Mr. Potebenko, who warns that "depriving the Prosecutor's Office the right to oversee law-and-order in political and economic areas harms law-abiding citizens and the state as a whole."

Выпуск газеты №:

№3, (1999)

Section

Day After Day