Odesa residents protest over adoption of law on NABU

Today, on July 23, at 19:00, a protest action against the adoption of draft law No. 12414 began.

More information about the law is available on the website of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

The protesters are still arriving. Currently, people with different slogans on cardboard are chanting together: "No to corruption in power!"

19:28 UPDATE: There are now about seven hundred participants. Also, according to a blitz report by MP Oleksiy Honcharenko, the Rada plans to "re-vote" the law that caused such reactions from the population. This is expected to happen next week.

19:51 UPDATE: More people are arriving.

20:14 UPDATE: Residents of Izmail have joined the action, albeit in small numbers.

20:35 UPDATE: The protesters have reached Exchange Square and are lining up near the mayor's office, chanting: "Hands off NABU!"

21:15 UPDATE: The rally is over.

The project was registered in January this year. Four MPs are registered as initiators: Pavlyuk Maksym (IX convocation), Medyanyk Viacheslav (IX convocation), Bakumov Oleksandr (IX convocation), Minko Serhiy (IX convocation).

Yesterday, a rally was held on the central street of Odesa, Deribasovskaya. It was attended by both public figures and ordinary Odessans.

As we have previously reported, the protesters insist that the new draft law passed by the Verkhovna Rada on July 22 will return Ukraine to the times of Fedor Yanukovych's rule, namely, revive the level of corruption that existed in the country then.

Mykola Tarasenko, a representative of the NGO "We are getting on your nerves," said that if the bill is signed, people will continue to protest.

"They brazenly pushed through clauses that regulate the powers of the NABU and the SAPO, which are independent bodies from the government that conduct investigations. They now want to transfer these powers to the Prosecutor General, who will be convenient to manage. If the draft law just hangs in the air and nothing happens with it, we will also remember it, but if it is signed, we will continue to organize actions against it."

The draft law No. 12414 in question was previously criticized by Transparency International as an attempt to deprive the NABU and the SAPO of their independence.

Олександра Горст