Zelenskyy signs controversial law stripping anti-corruption agencies of independence

Information appeared on the website of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) on 22 July that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed bill No. 12414, which effectively places the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) under the authority of the prosecutor general.

Source: Verkhovna Rada website

Details: It is worth noting that the information about the signing of the law had previously disappeared from the Verkhovna Rada website, but it now states that Zelenskyy has signed the document.

The law was published almost immediately in the Verkhovna Rada newspaper Holos Ukrainy, which means it has entered into force.

MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak wrote that MPs who opposed the law will try to submit a request to the Constitutional Court to challenge it. This requires 45 MPs to sign the petition. According to Zhelezniak, many articles of the Rules of Procedure were violated during the consideration of bill No. 12414 in the Verkhovna Rada.

Parliament voted in favour of the corresponding bill on 22 July. It was mostly supported by MPs from Servant of the People, Opposition Platform – For Life and Batkivshchyna parties.

After the vote, people gathered in large Ukrainian cities to protest and call for the law to be vetoed. Protests are taking place in Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Dnipro and even in Sumy, despite ongoing Russian attacks.

Under the law signed by Zelenskyy, the prosecutor general will be able to:

• reassign the powers of a SAPO prosecutor to other prosecutors;
• request materials from any cases and reassign them to other prosecutors;
• give NABU binding written instructions;
• reassign NABU criminal proceedings to other pre-trial investigation bodies.

Background:

• On 22 July, the Verkhovna Rada voted in favour of draft law No. 12414 at second reading, according to which NABU and SAPO will become dependent on decisions made by the prosecutor general. 
• Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk promptly signed the law.
• The heads of NABU and SAPO urged President Volodymyr Zelenskyy not to sign draft law No. 12414, which they say will effectively destroy the independence of these institutions

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