Facts

Venediktova: issue of holding MPs accountable for voting on Kharkiv agreements is more of abstraction

Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova considers it premature to talk about the possible personal responsibility of MPs, who in 2010 voted for Kharkiv agreements on the extension of the stay of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Crimea.

She told reporters in Kyiv on Wednesday that she considered provocative the issue of the possibility of bringing to justice former MPs, while they were not responsible for voting.

Venediktova recalled that in February 2021, suspicion was announced to former President Viktor Yanukovych precisely on the basis of Kharkiv agreements. "And this suspicion is somehow symbolic. Perhaps it was done late – after 11 years, but it was done anyway, so it is necessary to distinguish between criminal justice [...] and the sanctions imposed by the NSDC," the Prosecutor General said.

She said that the decisions of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC), in particular, sanctions, are of political nature, while the actions of the investigators and prosecutors are a matter of legal responsibility.

"Therefore, with regard to the legal responsibility of MPs for voting, this is a great abstraction [...] Whether there will be some kind of criminal responsibility or not, only an investigation will show," Venediktova said.

At the same time, she said that today "it is very early to talk about this."

That is, as the Prosecutor General said, MPs, of course, cannot be held accountable for their expressions of will when they fulfill their program promises, but "it is another matter if they violate the law from a technical standpoint, for example, 'button pushing'."

As reported, at a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine, it was decided to entrust the SBU with the circumstances of the vote in 2010 on the ratification of Kharkiv agreements on the extension of the stay of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Crimea until 2042.

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