The consent of former Ukrainian MP Andriy Shkil is needed to close a criminal case against him for his participation in mass riots in 2001, and he has nothing to fear, Ukrainian First Deputy Prosecutor General Renat Kuzmin has said.

"The statute of limitations on this case has already expired, but in order to close the case, it's necessary to obtain the consent of Shkil. And then he should go to court - only it can close the case. The closing of the case on the statute of limitations is a non-rehabilitation circumstance. Perhaps, Shkil will not do that. Perhaps, he wants the case to be closed, for example, due to the absence of crime," he said in an interview with the Segodnya newspaper, which was published on Thursday.

"In any case, Shkil's mythical arrest in Ukraine is an invention by him and his colleagues. The arrest of [former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's defense lawyer Serhiy] Vlasenko is also an invention. Everyone wants to present himself as a victim of the regime. So the case really exists, but Shkil has nothing to fear," Kuzmin said.

As reported, Shkil said earlier he did not rule out that he would seek political asylum in the Czech Republic, that political persecutions against him had never stopped and a case on the events on March 9, 2001 outside the presidential administration during the "Ukraine without Kuchma" rally had not been closed. He also confirmed reports that part of his property had been arrested in Ukraine and said that he did not know the reason for this.