2 October 2014
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko ordered on Oct. 1 law enforcement authorities – including the Security Service and Procurator General of Ukraine – to investigate the violent attack on MP Nestor Shufrych that occurred on Sept. 30, his press service reported. The president called on politicians “not to participate in scenarios that work towards destabilizing the situation in Ukraine.” Local police have already opened a criminal case, reported the Interfax news agency.
Zenon Zawada: Certainly, the perpetrators of violence against Shufrych must be arrested and prosecuted. However, Poroshenko is not addressing the root of the problem, which is the need for lustration. He has argued that elections are the best form of lustration, yet the inadequacy of that mechanism is well-known. The election law contains many loopholes, such as no restrictions on opaque sources of financing, enabling corrupt politicians, like Shufrych allegedly, to qualify for parliament. So the election law needs to be amended in addition to lustration legislation, which has yet to gain the president’s signature.