Information appeared on the website of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) on 22 July that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had signed bill No. 12414, which effectively places the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) under the authority of the prosecutor general.

Source : Verkhovna Rada website

Details: It is worth noting that the information about the signing of the law had previously disappeared from the Verkhovna Rada website, but it now states that Zelenskyy has signed the document.

A publication about the law appeared in the Verkhovna Rada newspaper Holos Ukrainy almost immediately, which means it has entered into force.

MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak wrote that MPs who opposed the law will try to submit a request to the Constitutional Court to challenge it. For this, 45 MPs need to sign the petition. According to Zhelezniak, many articles of the Rules of Procedure were violated during the consideration of bill No. 12414 in the Verkhovna Rada.

Parliament voted for the corresponding bill on 22 July. It was mostly supported by MPs from Servant of the People, Opposition Platform – For Life and Batkivshchyna.

After the vote, people gathered in large Ukrainian cities to protest and call for the law to be vetoed. Protests are taking place in Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Dnipro and even in Sumy, despite ongoing Russian attacks.

According to the law signed by Zelenskyy, the prosecutor general will be able to:

• delegate the powers of a SAPO prosecutor to other prosecutors;
• request materials from any cases and delegate them to other prosecutors;
• provide the NABU with written instructions that are binding;
• delegate NABU criminal proceedings to other pre-trial investigation bodies.

Background:

• On 22 July, the Verkhovna Rada voted in second reading for draft law No. 12414, according to which the NABU and the SAPO will become dependent on decisions made by the prosecutor general. 
• Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk promptly signed the adopted law.
• The heads of NABU and the SAPO implored Zelenskyy to reject draft law No. 12414, a move they warn obliterates the independence of these institutions.

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