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Ukrainian parliament approves bill stripping lawmakers of immunity

After the document is signed by the Verkhovna Rada speaker and the president of Ukraine, the law will come into force starting January 1, 2020

© Pyotr Sivkov/TASS

KIEV, September 3. /TASS/. Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (parliament) has approved the bill that strips lawmakers of immunity with 373 MPs voting in favor of the initiative (300 votes were needed for the bill to pass).

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Fraction "Opposition Platform-For Life" was the only one to vote against the bill, citing breach of regulations during the document’s approval. The fraction has withdrawn from voting. The rest of the MPs voted in favor of the bill.

In June 2018, Ukraine’s Constitutional Court upheld that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s bill on stripping lawmakers of diplomatic immunity falls in line with the constitution. The bill offers to remove Articles 1 and 3 from the Constitution of Ukraine, which introduce the concept of lawmakers’ immunity, making it impossible to prosecute them without the approval of parliament.

After the document is signed by the Verkhovna Rada speaker and the president of Ukraine, the law will come into force starting January 1, 2020.

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