The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's Parliament, is set to consider amendments to legislation ordering to apply to suspects in crimes against national security a preventive measure in the form of custody remand only, thus prohibiting them from being bailed out.
The relevant bill was authored by MP Oksana Savchuk (independent), as announced at a parliament meeting on Wednesday, an UNIAN correspondent reported.
"If an individual is accused of high treason, house arrest can in no case be applied to them," she said, commenting on the treason case targeting MP Viktor Medvedchuk.
According to Savchuk, the bill provides that persons suspected of crimes against the foundations of national and public security shall not be subjected to a preventive measure in the form of house arrest, adding that she believes their "only road is to a pretrial detention center."
The text of the bill is yet to be published on Verkhovna Rada's website.
Read alsoAnkle monitor put on MP Medvedchuk – mediaBackground
- On May 11, 2021, Ukraine's Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said she had signed off charges of high treason and attempted plunder of national resources in Russian-occupied Crimea, targeting MPs from the Opposition Platform – For Life Party Viktor Medvedchuk and Taras Kozak, under Articles 111 (treason) and 438 (violation of the laws and customs of war) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
- On May 12, Medvedchuk was handed a suspicion notice.
- The charges targeting Medvedchuk concern three criminal episodes.
- On Wednesday, operatives with the SBU Security Service of Ukraine raided Medvedchuk's homes in Kyiv, as well as the Party's office.
- On May 12, Medvedchuk reported to the Office of the Prosecutor General, stating he considered the case politically motivated, and the accusations – unsubstantiated.
- Taras Kozak is outside Ukraine, investigators say.
- On May 13, Kyiv's Pechersk District Court placed Medvedchuk under house arrest.
