The Bar Council of Ukraine appeals to the state leadership with a demand to immediately return the work of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the legal mainstream.
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This was stated by the Deputy Chairman of the Kiev Bar Council, Chairman of the Committee for the Protection of Professional Rights of Lawyers of the NGO “Bar Council of Ukraine” Valentin Stepyuk.
According to him, from November 7, 2015, the country may experience a complete collapse of the law enforcement system.
“We appeal to the President, Prime Minister, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, and the Prosecutor General to immediately intervene in the situation and immediately adopt regulations that would return the work of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the legal mainstream,” Stepyuk said.
He noted that the Law of Ukraine “On the National Police” comes into force on November 7, 2015 and on the same day the Law of Ukraine “On the Police” expires. In accordance with clause 9 of the Transitional Provisions of the new Law of Ukraine “On the National Police”, from August 6 to November 6, 2015, police units were to be staffed with persons from among the police officers who would have a desire to serve in the National Police.
“But this was not done. This means that from November 7 all police officers lose their status as representatives of an armed government body. In addition, since November 7, the entire police structure is actually turning into an illegal armed formation, since to this day not a single policeman has been recruited to serve in Ukraine,” he said.
In addition, Stepyuk noted that from November 7, police investigators will not be able to carry out any investigative actions, traffic police officers will not be able to keep order on the roads, and patrol officers will not be able to detain drunkards, hooligans and criminals.
“Even the patrol units of such a much-touted “new patrol police” will also be outside the law, since, according to internal orders of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, they are still police officers, not police officers, and have official IDs of police officers,” Stepyuk added.
In turn, senior partner of the law firm “Kravets and Partners”, chairman of the NGO “Rule of Law” Rostislav Kravets noted that the current situation indicates “impunity.”
“In any civilized country, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and maybe the head of the Cabinet of Ministers, resigned for this, because in fact today they have put the security of the state under a very big question,” he said.