Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has not commented in his night address on the signing of the law stripping the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) of their independence, nor on the related protests which have taken place.
Source: Zelenskyy’s night address
Quote from Zelenskyy: "I spoke with NABU Director Semen Kryvonos, SAPO Prosecutor Oleksandr Klymenko, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, and Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Vasyl Maliuk. We discussed various challenges, all of them.
The anti-corruption infrastructure will work, only without Russian influence – it needs to be cleared of that. And there should be more justice.
Of course, NABU and SAPO will work. And it is important that the prosecutor general is determined to ensure that in Ukraine the inevitability of punishment for those who go against the law is actually ensured. This is what Ukraine really needs. The cases that have been lying dormant must be investigated."
Details: Zelenskyy also mentioned the need to ensure “the inevitability of punishment” in Ukraine, so that “society really sees it”.
Quote: “So that there are no fakes or information manipulations.”
Details: For a long time, there was no reaction on the Office of the President’s website or Zelenskyy’s social media accounts to the controversial bill approved by the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament). Meanwhile, the heads of NABU and SAPO had called on the president not to sign the document.
Hundreds of people in major Ukrainian cities have held protests demanding the president veto the draft law. Protests took place in Kyiv near the Office of the President and in Lviv, Odesa and Dnipro.
No one from the president’s team commented on draft law No. 12414 to Ukrainian journalists. For over 10 hours after the vote in the Verkhovna Rada, Zelenskyy’s office made no public comments regarding the law that restricts the independence of the anti-corruption bodies.
Law enforcement officials warned that they would act in accordance with the law concerning the activists who gathered in central Kyiv after the curfew started.
Zelenskyy’s last post before commenting on the work of NABU, SAPO and the Prosecutor General’s Office was published at 18:31 on 22 July and was related to the presenting of certificates for housing to the families of fallen Heroes of Ukraine.
Background:
On 22 July, information appeared on the website of the Verkhovna Rada that Zelenskyy had signed bill No. 12414, which effectively places the NABU and the SAPO under the authority of the prosecutor general.On the evening of 22 July, protests were held in several Ukrainian cities following the adoption of the draft law, which effectively undermines the independence of the anti-corruption bodies.
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