October 20, 2017

Protesters in Kyiv see a victory in bill on ending lawmakers’ immunity

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KYIV – Protesters calling for Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to enact anti-corruption reforms or step down notched a small victory on October 19 as the Verkhovna Rada sent a bill on lifting lawmakers’ immunity from prosecution to the Constitutional Court for review.

Hundreds of demonstrators aligned with opposition parties cheered the news when it was announced in front of the legislature, where they have been camping out in tents since October 17 to ratchet up pressure on Mr. Poroshenko to clamp down on what they see as rampant corruption in government.

Mustafa Nayyem, a reformist deputy and Poroshenko critic, called it “a small victory” for the opposition that is likely to appease the protesters for the time being.

Thousands of demonstrators have gathered outside the Verkhovna Rada in recent days in a mainly peaceful protest, though minor clashes with police have been reported.

In addition to setting up more than half a dozen tents in front of Parliament, they have also managed to bring metal shields into the security area, echoing measures taken by activists in the massive Euro-Maidan protests that pushed Russia-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych from power in February 2014.

Firebrand politician Mikheil Saakashvili and other opposition leaders are seeking the abolition of parliamentary immunity from prosecution and an overhaul of Ukraine’s electoral law, as well as the creation of anti-corruption courts.

They are also demanding legislation on impeachment procedures that would put pressure on the president and hold him accountable.

Mr. Saakashvili, the former Georgian president and governor of Ukraine’s Odesa region who has been stripped of both his Georgian and Ukrainian citizenship, called for the demonstration last month after he returned to Ukraine in defiance of the Poroshenko administration.

That call was backed by most of Ukraine’s opposition parties, which sent prominent lawmakers, veterans of the conflict in eastern Ukraine and others critical of President Poroshenko’s ruling coalition to the protest.

Many of the protesters are supporters of Semyon Semenchenko, a lawmaker and former commander of a volunteer unit in the war between Ukrainian troops and Russia-backed forces in the east of the country.

Mr. Saakashvili was previously an ally of Poroshenko, who appointed him governor of Odesa Oblast in 2015. He resigned in November 2016, complaining of rampant corruption and saying reform efforts were being blocked. He has since turned his outspoken rhetoric on Mr. Poroshenko and his allies.

Protest began October 17

The tents were set up on October 17 on Hrushevsky Street and in Mariyinskyi Park outside the Verkhovna Rada, where some 4,500 protesters demonstrated that day. About 200 protesters were at the site the next day, saying they will stay until their demands are met. A field kitchen was set up and barrel fires burned amidst about three dozen camping-style tents.

Some clashes with police were reported, but National Police Chief Serhiy Knyazev told reporters that the authorities weren’t planning on forcefully removing the tent camp. “We do not want to repeat old mistakes. We want to secure the citizens’ right to express their will,” Mr. Knyazev said.

Serhiy Leshchenko, a reformist opposition lawmaker who is a vociferous critic of Mr. Poroshenko, told RFE/RL near the Parliament that the president and his administration had provoked the protest.

“Poroshenko has ignored all the demands of the people in terms of anti-corruption [measures],” Mr. Leshchenko said.

He said that a Maidan-style tent camp protest “is a part of Ukrainian political culture” and “is the only way” to gain the attention of President Poroshenko, who he said has “lost touch with reality.”

While he wasn’t spending nights at the protest camp, Mr. Leshchenko said it would likely stay put “until the president answers to our goals.”

Those goals include the creation of anti-corruption courts, the abolition of parliamentary immunity from prosecution, an overhaul of Ukraine’s electoral legislation and legislation on impeachment procedures that Mr. Leshchenko said would put pressure on the president and “hold Poroshenko accountable.”

As lawmakers met inside the Parliament building on October 17, President Poroshenko appeared to address one of those demands in a Facebook post. He wrote that lawmakers’ immunity has “turned into a guarantee [of] impunity” and proposed that the Constitution be amended to abolish it.

Copyright 2017, RFE/RL Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington DC 20036; www.rferl.org.

The story above is a compilation of reports filed by Christopher Miller and RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service. (To read the full texts, see https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-kyiv-protesters-block-street-parliament-tents/28801739.html and https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-immunity-bill-parliament-constitutional-court/28804248.html.)

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