Nobel Prize-winning Center for Civil Liberties warns adopted law could destroy rule of law in Ukraine
The Center for Civil Liberties, which won the Nobel Peace Prize, called on Ukraine’s President to veto draft law No. 12414, which Parliament adopted on July 22 in violation of parliamentary procedure. The human rights non-governmental organization stated that the draft law poses a direct threat to the rule of law and human rights.
“We also appeal to European institutions to persuade the Ukrainian authorities to revoke draft law No. 12414, as it contradicts the founding principles of the European Union,” the statement reads.
According to the Center for Civil Liberties’ assessment, this draft law eliminates the procedural independence of prosecutors. In fact, the Prosecutor General is now granted the power to change the jurisdiction of any case in Ukraine, depriving all other law enforcement bodies of their independence. They can decide whether or not to investigate a case, transfer an investigation to another body, assign a case to other investigators, require that all charges against top officials be signed exclusively by them, and also direct the course of investigations and issue binding instructions to any investigators.
“According to Ukrainian legislation, the Prosecutor General has no guarantees of independence and is entirely politically dependent on the President’s Office. Thus, these changes directly threaten the rule of law and respect for human rights,” human rights advocates pointed out.
The changes would dismantle the system of anti-corruption bodies, particularly the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU).
“After these changes, investigating criminal cases against Ukraine’s top political leadership would become virtually impossible. These bodies would lose their reason for existence in this form, as they would no longer differ from other law enforcement agencies. This would destroy the anti-corruption system that officials have laboriously built over the past 10 years,” the human rights advocates said.
