Poroshenko asks Shokin to resign as prosecutor general

15:54, 16.02.2016 1 min read

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has asked Prosecutor General of Ukraine Viktor Shokin to resign.

"This morning I have met and had a serious conversation with the prosecutor general. I have suggested Viktor Mykolayovych [Shokin] should write a letter of resignation," the president said in a statement to the nation made public on Tuesday.

Poroshenko highly praised Shokin's achievements as prosecutor general but at the same time noted that society lacks confidence in the Prosecutor General's Office.

"Viktor Shokin has introduced reforms that the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office had resisted for decades, including the deprivation of prosecutors of general supervisory functions, the establishment of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the State Investigations Bureau, and so on. It's on the one hand. On the other, the Prosecutor General's Office has unfortunately been unable to win society's confidence. And this is precisely why the prosecutor general's resignation is on the agenda," he said.

Shokin was appointed Ukrainian prosecutor general in February 2015.