13:49 22.03.2013

Vlasenko says grounds to reconsider court decision to strip him of his mandate are obvious

3 min read

The defense counsel for former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, Serhiy Vlasenko, has said he expects that the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine (HACU) will refuse to pass a complaint regarding the review of its decision to strip him of his parliamentary powers to the Supreme Court of Ukraine.

"Judging by how the case was heard in the HACU, how, if you pardon the expression, the decision was dully and stupidly written, and that the position of the defendant was not taken into account (it is not even reflected in the decision itself), I dare to assume that the HACU won't punish itself and won't pass the lawsuit anywhere," Vlasenko told Interfax-Ukraine.

He noted that such a rejection could be used in the consideration of his complaint at the European Court of Human Rights.

"I need this to show the European Court [of Human Rights] the lawlessness of the Ukrainian judicial system with respect to opposition MPs. Although I utterly thrown out of parliament, they are utterly refusing to pass the documents to the Supreme Court for the consideration of this issue there," Vlasenko said.

He said he considered obvious the grounds to pass his complaint against the HACU's decision to the Supreme Court, as under the law, HACU decisions could be reviewed if it unequally applies the provisions of law in the same initial legal relationships.

He noted that a judge-rapporteur on his complaint had already been appointed. There were no remarks regarding the non-compliance of the complaint with formal procedural norms. The decision to transfer his appeal to the Supreme Court should be made by March 27 inclusive.

On February 22, Vlasenko said that he had appealed to the Council of Lawyers of Ukraine to cancel his advocacy certificate in order to avoid any "political insinuations." He said that, according to the current legislation, a lawyer's right for advocacy was canceled from the day of filing an appeal to cancel his advocacy certificate. He added that still he has the right to defend former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

On March 6, the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine (HACU) stripped Vlasenko of his parliamentary powers complying with a lawsuit filed by Verkhovna Rada speaker Volodymyr Rybak. The speaker said in the lawsuit that Vlasenko was combining his parliamentary powers with legal practice.

Vlasenko said that he planned to protest against the HACU's judgment at the European Court of Human Rights.

Vlasenko is a defense counsel for Tymoshenko in a number of criminal cases. He has repeatedly stressed that he is a defense counsel rather than a lawyer of the former prime minister.

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