2023-12-08T13:43:00+02:00 Politics 2024-09-15T04:52:51+03:00

Ukrainian news

Expert notes dangerous tendency of authoritarian path on part of some officials – mass media

Expert notes dangerous tendency of authoritarian path on part of some officials – mass media

The risks of a decrease in support from the West are increasing not only due to geopolitical processes but also due to those trends occurring in domestic politics - pressure, political clashes, and authoritarian trends, according to journalist and lawyer Olena Melnyk.

She wrote this in her blog posted on Censor.NET, the Ukrainian News agency reports.

Melnyk notes that the MP corps currently consists of only 401 elected members, and this is an absolute anti-record. In conditions where the mono-majority no longer exists, according to Melnyk, it is critically important for high-ranking officials to maintain influence over the parliament.

"This can be done exclusively at the expense of deputies from other factions and groups. However, the joint voting of opposition MPs, in particular, majority members, with the "Servants [members of the Servants of the People party]" does not take place on the basis of a common vision, but in many cases, due to the pressure exerted on them from Bankova [Presidential Office]," writes Melnyk.

She notes that the numerous criminal proceedings that have opened over the past few years have become a certain tool through which this pressure is exerted.

"Controlled law enforcement agencies and the judicial system are powerful weapons. It's a kind of sword of Damocles that always hangs over politicians," Melnyk says.

In confirmation of her words, she recalls numerous cases when criminal cases were opened against current MPs, which were reported by the media.

"Only the SBI [State Bureau of Investigation] investigated 47 criminal proceedings against current and former MPs, 23 people's elected representatives received suspicion from the NACB [National Anti-Corruption Bureau] since the beginning of the full-scale war. And this does not take into account the cases investigated by the SSU, the Prosecutor General's Office, and other law enforcement officers," Melnyk writes.

As one of the most high-profile examples, she mentioned the case of MP Dubnevych, who became the object of persecution by the authorities back in 2016 when he developed a bill prohibiting the collection of debts from Ukrzaliznytsia of its enterprises located in the temporarily occupied territories. Subsequently, the number of cases against Dubnevych increased.

According to her, Dubnevych was accused of abuses at tenders. However, at that time, he transferred all corporate rights to third parties, and the Antimonopoly Committee and the State Audit Service had no complaints about procurement procedures.

Another reason for the persecution of Dubnevych, according to Melnyk, is the fact that the MP was one of those who appealed to the Constitutional Court regarding the constitutionality of certain provisions of the legislative acts of Ukraine concerning the rights, freedoms, and duties of a person and a citizen. In his submission, he and almost 60 other MPs actually challenged the work of the Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA).

Melnyk also draws attention to the fact that now ARMA "takes one of the first places in terms of the number of criminal cases opened against its leaders."

"We can only guess whether it is really a fight against corruption or an exemplary and demonstrative "taming of wayward" MPs and leveling of the political landscape. So that nothing stands in the way of the President and his entourage on the way to his goal, even the Constitution and legislation, the violation of which has become bad tradition," the journalist notes.