Communist Party of Ukraine in Verkhovna Rada disbanded

 /ITAR-TASS/. Parliament’s Speaker Oleksandr Turchynov expressed hope that there will be no more communist ideology in the Ukrainian society

The communist Party of Ukraine parliamentary faction in the Verkhovna Rada (the country’s parliament) has been disbanded, as stated by Speaker Oleksander Turchynov at the parliament’s session.

“There were 33 deputies in the faction of communists, ten of them quit, so now there are not enough MPs for the faction’s functioning. We have corrected a historical error by disbanding the faction. I hope there will be no more communist ideology in the Ukrainian society,” Turchynov said.

On Tuesday, the parliament has adopted amendments to the rules of procedure that allow disbanding factions in case there is lack in MPs in the faction to be formed.

In May, Turchynov addressed the Justice Ministry asking to check the Communist Party’s implication in staging separatist activities and, if needed, to ban the communist activity through a court.

Communist ideology may be also banned in Ukraine

July 8, the Justice Ministry filed a suit with the District Administrative Court of Kiev on banning the activity of the Communist Party. The court will start hearing the case July 24. According to Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko, “there are 120 pages of evidence proving the illegal activity of the communists in the lawsuit contents”.

In particular, Petrenko claims that “there is evidence of implication of the party’s representatives to actions that led to Russia’s occupation of Crimea, involvement in weapon supplies and funding of terrorists in eastern regions, as well as in arranging separatist referenda in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions”. “There are also documents proving facts of direct involvement of Communist Party members in combat actions against Ukrainian forces of the anti-terrorist operation,” the minister believes.

Attempts to ban the Communist Party of Ukraine are not new. Thus, in March 2014, the Ukrainian parliament has registered several corresponding draft bills. In addition, the ruling “On bringing into line regulations of the Justice Ministry on registration of political parties with the regulations of the Constitution of Ukraine” was presented in the Verkhovna Rada.

The Justice Ministry is instructed “to take relevant measures on abolishing the regulation dated October 5, 1993 on the registration of the Communist Party since the coming into effect of the Constitution, as well as to provide the abolishment of legislative acts on registration of other political parties, the incorporation documents of which contradict the regulations on the procedure of founding of political parties and their activity in the country”.

The parliament has also registered a draft bill “On the prohibition of communist ideology in Ukraine”.