Poroshenko submits proposal to Rada on Shokin's discharge as Ukrainian prosecutor general
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has submitted his recommendation to the Verkhovna Rada on Viktor Shokin's discharge as prosecutor general, the presidential press service has reported.
"President Petro Poroshenko has submitted a proposal to the Verkhovna Rada on giving consent to Viktor Shokin's discharge as prosecutor general of Ukraine [...] in keeping with Article 85, Part 1, Clause 25, Article 106, Part 1, Clause 11, and Article 122, Part 1 of the Ukrainian Constitution," it said.
Poroshenko said in his address to the nation on February 16 that he had asked Shokin to resign.
Mustafa Nayyem, a parliamentarian from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction, said the same day that Shokin had tendered his resignation. However, this information was not officially confirmed at the time.
Serhiy Horbatiuk, the chief of the Prosecutor General's Office special investigations directorate, was later quoted as saying that Shokin was on a leave.
Presidential press secretary Sviatoslav Tseholko said earlier on February 19 that the presidential secretariat had received Shokin's letter of resignation.
"Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin has submitted a letter of resignation, and it reached the presidential secretariat today," he said.
Shokin was appointed prosecutor general of Ukraine in February 2015. The current version of the Ukrainian Constitution stipulates that a prosecutor general is appointed and discharged by the president at the parliament's consent. The parliament can also consolidate a certain number of votes to pass a vote of no confidence in the prosecutor general, which also results in his or her discharge.
The next plenary session of the Verkhovna Rada is to open on March 15.