KIEV, April 21. /TASS/. The Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) on Thursday expelled lawmaker Viktor Medvedchuk, who is imprisoned on charges of treason, from the parliamentary committee on human rights, non-government-controlled territories of Donbass and national minorities, a member of the Verkhovna Rada Alexey Goncharenko reported in his Telegram channel.
"The Rada recalled Viktor Medvedchuk from the position of a member of the Committee on human rights, deoccupation and reintegration of temporarily occupied territories in Donetsk, Lugansk regions and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the city of Sevastopol, national minorities and interethnic relations," Goncharenko wrote.
In May 2021, the Ukrainian prosecutor's office brought charges against Medvedchuk under the articles "High treason" and "Violation of the laws and customs of war". The Kiev Pechersky district court placed him under round-the-clock house arrest. In October, the opposition leader was charged with another crime under the articles "High treason" and "Contributing to the activity of terrorist organizations". According to the investigation, he was allegedly involved in the coal supply from Donbass areas not controlled by Kiev in 2014-2015. The politician denies the accusations against him.
On February 27, 2022, the politician's lawyer Larisa Cherednichenko reported that Medvedchuk had left his home in Kiev, where he was serving a house arrest, due to threats to his life from nationalists, but remained in the Ukrainian capital. On April 12, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky announced that Medvedchuk had been detained. On April 16, a court in Lvov changed Medvedchuk's house arrest to imprisonment. Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk said last Friday that the politician will be stripped of his parliamentary mandate after the court makes the appropriate decision.