03 November 2016, Thursday, 19:58 189

Lutsenko Asks Rada To Allow Criminal Prosecution Of MP Novinsky

Редактор: Daria Zubkova

Prosecutor General Yurii Lutsenko has asked the parliament authorize criminal prosecution of Parliamentary Deputy Vadim Novinsky of the Opposition Bloc faction.

Lutsenko announced this in a statement on Facebook, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

Lutsenko posted a copy of the relevant request from the Prosecutor-General’s Office for permission to criminally prosecute Novinsky, which is dated 3 November.

The Prosecutor-General’s Office suspects Novinsky of colluding with former president Viktor Yanukovych, former interior affairs minister Vitalii Zakharchenko, and former Kyiv police chief Valerii Koriak to organize the kidnapping of Archbishop Oleksandr (Drabinko), a personal assistant to the late Metropolitan Volodymyr of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate.

The crime that Novinsky is suspected of committing is punishable under Section 2 of Article 146 (unlawful imprisonment or kidnapping) and Section 1 of Article 365 (abuse of power or authority) of the Criminal Code.

The spokesperson for the Prosecutor-General’s Office, Larysa Sarhan, said that Lutsenko signed the request on Thursday and that it would send to the parliament’s procedural committee in the near future.

Sarhan also said that Drabinko and another witness have testified against Novinsky.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the Opposition Bloc party has demanded that the authorities stop persecuting Novinsky.