Serhiy Vlasenko, a defense counsel for former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko who was stripped by court of his parliamentary powers, will continue defending Tymoshenko and is not planning to leave Ukraine.

"The decision to deprive me of my status as MP does not prevent me from defending Tymoshenko. There are no formal grounds to dismiss me from the Tymoshenko case, and I will continue my work," he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Monday.

When asked whether he will appear in court hearings on criminal cases against Tymoshenko, Vlasenko said: "Of course. What has changed? I was approved as a defense counsel, and my status in the Tymoshenko case has not changed. It was not stipulated by the presence of a certificate [on the right to work as a lawyer]."

When asked whether he plans to go abroad or request political asylum, Vlasenko said: "I don't have such plans."

As reported, 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 ex-premier.

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 insinuation." He noted that, according to the current legislation, a lawyer's right for advocacy was cancelled from the day of filing an appeal to cancel his advocacy certificate. He added that still he has the right to defend Tymoshenko.

As reported, on March 6 the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine (HACU) stripped Vlasenko of his parliamentary powers, satisfying a lawsuit lodged by Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Rybak. The speaker said in the lawsuit that Vlasenko combined his parliamentary powers with advocacy.