Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed into law a bill passed by the Verkhovna Rada, according to which the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) will lose their independence, effectively falling under the subordination of the Prosecutor General's Office. Protests were held in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities against the adoption of this law.
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Hundreds of people joined anti-government protests in Lviv, Dnipro, and Odesa, holding posters with messages like "We chose Europe, not autocracy" and "My father did not die for this."
According to Ukrainska Pravda, the heads of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office urged Zelenskyy not to sign the law.
"The anti-corruption infrastructure will work, but without Russian influence - everything must be cleansed of this, and there must be more justice," Zelenskyy stated in his video address.
According to him, cases that have been pending for years must now be investigated.
"For years, officials who fled Ukraine have been living peacefully abroad for some reason -- in very nice countries and without legal consequences. This is abnormal. There is no rational explanation why criminal proceedings worth billions have been 'hanging' for years. And there is no explanation why the Russians can still get the information they need." It is important that there is an inevitability of punishment and that society really sees this," Zelenskyy noted.
263 deputies of the Ukrainian parliament voted in favour of the bill, including 185 members of the presidential faction Servant of the People. Ukrainska Pravda reports that deputies who opposed the law will try to challenge it in the Constitutional Court.
According to the law signed by Zelenskyy, the Prosecutor General will, among other things, be able to issue binding instructions to NABU for execution and transfer criminal proceedings to other preliminary investigation bodies.
Dmytro Kuleba, who resigned as Foreign Minister last year, stated that it was "a bad day for Ukraine" and that the president had a choice – either to side with the people or not.
"Serious concerns" regarding the legislative changes were also expressed in the European Union.
"The dismantling of key safeguards protecting NABU’s independence is a serious step back," said Marta Kos, the European Commissioner for Enlargement.
Kos emphasized that the independence of NABU and the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office is "essential for Ukraine's EU path." She also stated that the rule of law remains in the very center of EU accession negotiations.
