The Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine has annulled the parliamentary mandate of Batkivschyna parliamentary faction MP Serhiy Vlasenko.

"The panel of judges came to the conclusion that the administrative lawsuit should be satisfied. The court upholds the administrative lawsuit of Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Rybak against people's deputy Serhiy Vlasenko," judge Mykhailo Zaitsev read aloud the court's decision on Wednesday.

According to an Interfax-Ukraine reporter, the court announced its decision to uphold a relevant lawsuit of Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Rybak.

The motivation part of the court's ruling reads that Vlasenko should have appealed for the termination of his advocacy certificate in time.

As for the interpretation of the term "practicing advocacy," the court ruled that Vlasenko can be a defender only if he practices advocacy.

The court also ruled that actions of the parliamentary regulations committee were lawful.

In its decision the court referred to a ruling of the Constitutional Court of 2008, which reads that if the ban on holding the position of a people's deputy and other posts at the same time is ignored by an MP, then his or her mandate must be annulled.

Rybak explained his appeal to the court by the fact that Vlasenko practices advocacy and is a people's deputy at the same time.

Vlasenko is a member of the defense team of jailed former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in a number of criminal cases against her.

On February 22, 2013, 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 is cancelled from the day of filing an appeal to cancel his advocacy certificate. He added that still he has the right to defend Tymoshenko.

Vlasenko has emphasized numerous times that he is Tymoshenko's defender, and not her lawyer.

However, the Verkhovna Rada Regulations Committee approved a decision to deprive Batkivschyna faction MP Serhiy Vlasenko and Regions Party faction MP Andriy Verevsky of their parliamentary mandates. Later on, Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Rybak filed relevant appeals to the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine.

The parliamentary opposition, in turn, accused the chairman of the regulations committee, Volodymyr Makeyenko (Regions Party faction), of having falsified the committee's decision to deprive Vlasenko of his parliamentary seat.

On March 5, the court annulled Verevsky's parliamentary mandate.

According to Article 81 of the Constitution of Ukraine, "if the requirements regarding incompatibility of the parliamentary mandate with other activities are ignored, the authority of a people's deputy of Ukraine should be terminated in advance according to the law upon a court's ruling."

According to Article 78 of the Constitution of Ukraine, the requirement on incompatibility of the parliamentary mandate with other activities is stipulated in the legislation.

According to Clause 5, Part 1, Article 3 of the law on the status of the people's deputy of Ukraine, an MP "has no right to be involved as an expert by pre-trial investigatory agencies, prosecutor's offices, courts, as well as to practice advocacy."

The Constitutional Court of Ukraine in September 2012 declared constitutional the provisions of the Code of Administrative Court Procedure, according to which cases on the early annulment of parliamentary mandates of people's deputies that hold more than one office are within the jurisdiction of the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine.