Ukraine president under pressure Zelenskyi overturns his corruption law and wants to use a lie detector
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- President Zelenskyi has presented a draft law aimed at restoring the independence of anti-corruption authorities and prescribing lie detector tests for employees with access to state secrets.
- The draft is a response to EU criticism and ongoing protests against a law that was previously passed in an expedited procedure and was intended to place the anti-corruption agencies under the control of the General Prosecutor's Office.
- Despite new plans, the protests are continuing, while a vote in parliament is not expected to take place until after the summer break in mid-August.
Following harsh criticism from the EU and massive protests by thousands of Ukrainians, President Volodymyr Zelensky presented a draft law in Kiev to restore the independence of the anti-corruption authorities.
However, in order to rule out Russian influence in state agencies, all employees with access to state secrets are to be subjected to lie detector tests, Selensky announced in his evening video message. "And these must be regular checks," he said.
Such tests have already been carried out in the past, but not to the extent now planned. However, NABU was relieved to announce in the evening that, according to the draft law, the tests would not be carried out by the SBU intelligence service, but by an internal administrative control body.
Selenskyj presents new law, protest continues
He had previously submitted a corresponding new draft law on the work of the anti-corruption authorities to parliament - the Supreme Rada. This provides for lie detector tests within six months.
Despite this, there were renewed protests in Kiev and other cities across the country against Zelenskyi's law, which was only signed on Tuesday despite criticism in an expedited procedure and was intended to place the anti-corruption fighters under the authority of the general prosecutor and therefore ultimately also the president.
The protesters demanded the adoption of the new law, which would restore the previous powers of the anti-corruption fighters. In Kiev, the demonstrators gathered within sight of the presidential residence for the third day in a row, as a reporter from the German Press Agency reported on site. However, the number of people gathered remained below the previous day's figures at a few hundred.
The time of the vote in the Rada was initially unclear. Parliamentary Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk promised on Facebook that the document would be put to the vote at the next session. According to MPs, however, the Supreme Rada is on summer vacation until mid-August.