Regions Party faction proposed setting up commission to investigate Avakov's alleged involvement in child sexual abuse
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has registered a draft resolution on setting up an investigation commission to probe the reports about the involvement of MP Arsen Avakov of the Batkivschyna faction in child sexual abuse.
The relevant resolution was drafted by members of the Party of Regions faction, Volodymyr Mysyka, Yevhen Murayev and Anatoliy Denysenko, and was registered in parliament on Wednesday.
There is no text of the draft resolution on the Ukrainian parliament's Web site.
It was reported earlier that Avakov had been charged on January 31, 2012 with "abuse of office leading to serious consequences" through unlawfully expropriating 55 hectares of land near the village of Pisochyn in Kharkiv region and changing its status. He was also declared internationally wanted, and the Chervonozavodsky District Court in Kharkiv granted an investigator's request on sanctioning his arrest.
Reports of Avakov's detention in Frosinone, Italy, were confirmed on March 27. After that, the leadership of Batkivschyna sent letters to the Interpol secretary-general and the Italian government, asking them to take into consideration "the obvious political motives" behind Avakov's criminal prosecution, and to release him. A Rome court ruled to release Avakov from custody on April 12.
Avakov led Kharkiv Regional State Administration from February 2005 until February 2010.
He ran for mayor of Kharkiv in the autumn of 2010. He took second place, losing to the winner of the mayoral election, Hennadiy Kernes, by a margin of 0.63%.
In Ukraine's parliamentary elections on October 28, Avakov was elected an MP on the list of the Batkivschyna Party (No. 24 on the list). He said that he would return to Ukraine immediately after the decision on his election as an MP by the CEC is published. On November 23, the CEC registered Avakov as an MP.
On December 10, 2012, a ruling of Chervonozavodsky Court of Kharkiv to cancel the restriction measure in the form of detention and a warrant for Avakov's arrest took legal effect, as Avakov was elected as a people's deputy.
Avakov returned to Ukraine on December 11.
