The Verkhovna Rada has supported the creation of the Ukrainian National Pantheon.
Some 287 MPs voted in favor of the corresponding bill No. 15360 on the Ukrainian National Pantheon as a whole at a plenary session of the Verkhovna Rada on Wednesday.
According to the bill, the Pantheon may honor the memory of individuals who held positions of heads of state or equivalent in Rus, the Kingdom of Rus, the Ukrainian Cossack State (Zaporozhian Host), the Ukrainian People’s Republic, the West Ukrainian People’s Republic, the Ukrainian State, and Carpatho-Ukraine. Presidents of Ukraine also have the right to be honored in the memorial complex, except for those who were removed from office through impeachment proceedings in accordance with the Constitution.
The bill provides for honoring commanders-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the war for independence in the Pantheon, as well as individuals who made an historically significant contribution to achieving and restoring independence, defending sovereignty and territorial integrity, and developing culture, science, sports, literary language, and civil society. In addition, Nobel Prize laureates and world-class figures associated with Ukraine may be honored in the Pantheon.
In exceptional cases, the ashes of a person may be honorably reburied in the Pantheon together with first-degree relatives.
The memory of individuals convicted of crimes against national security, peace, and international law and order, as well as those subject to the restrictions of laws on the condemnation of totalitarian regimes and the ban on propaganda of Russian imperial and Nazi policies, is not subject to being honored.
As an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reports, Verkhovna Rada Chairman Ruslan Stefanchuk signed the passed law immediately.
