Ukraine’s parliament has voted to restore the independence of two key anticorruption agencies, moving to defuse the country’s biggest political crisis since Russia’s invasion.
Politicians on Thursday voted 331 to 0 in favour of the bill, which President Volodymyr Zelenskyy submitted last week following pressure from thousands of protesters and top European officials.
Zelenskyy signed the the bill into law a couple hours after it was passed, thanking the MPs “for passing my bill” via a video message posted to X.
Ukrainians had reacted angrily to amendments pushed through parliament on July 22 by Zelenskyy’s ruling party that gave the president’s hand-picked general prosecutor the power to transfer cases away from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) and reassign prosecutors.
The decision led to some of the biggest protests held in Ukraine since the 2022 Russian invasion began, with thousands taking to the streets of Kyiv.
Credit: aljazeera.com
