President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the Verkhovna Rada to approve the draft law on amendments to Article 80 of the Constitution of Ukraine on the immunity of MPs, and noted that with the abolition of the immunity, the possibility of instituting criminal proceedings against the deputies would emerge.They will still be immune to political decisions and positions.
“I want to dispel all the myths and political manipulations: MPs will still have indemnity - they are not responsible for political decisions, votes or any political and public speeches. It is a question of permission to institute criminal proceedings,” the Head of State said during a speech at the second session of the Verkhovna Rada of the IX convocation.
"If a deputy hits a person when driving or “covers” the production of amber, or commits any other criminal offense - he must be brought to justice," Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed.
He also noted that the Parliament was first of all a legislative body, not a place to hide for 5 years.
The President reminded that the parliamentarians of many countries of the world, including Australia, Great Britain, Spain, USA, Canada, Germany, Austria, do not have the immunity.
“This is an incomplete list of countries where MPs are not immune to criminal offenses. I now appeal to all the people’s deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine: just do what you have promised people for years,” the Head of State summarized and reminded that 90% of Ukrainian citizens support the abolition of the immunity of the people's deputies.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy advised the deputies not to check how many people could come to the walls of the Parliament in the event of preserving the immunity. He also noted that he believed in people’s deputies of all factions and their choice.
"They say that our science is in a poor state. It is not true. Because the Ukrainian MPs made a truly brilliant discovery: they invented a "perpetual-motion machine". The "perpetual-motion machine" of political life. It works very simply: first, MP candidates promise to abolish their immunity, then the vote fails, then people forget. And during the next elections, candidates have something to promise again. It's been working for almost 20 years. But it is time to leave this gadget in dust heap of history,” the President said.
He noted that he knew that on the eve of the voting, someone had tried to disrupt the vote on the abolition of parliamentary immunity.
The President added: “I think citizens will guess who these people are when they see the voting list. Unfortunately, their names will be near the word "Against".
