Ukraine's parliament may suspend former President Petro Poroshenko from sessions for three days rather than six months, Mykyta Poturayev, head of the Verkhovna Rada's Humanitarian and Information Policy Committee, told RFE/RL on Jan. 31.
The Verkhovna Rada's Committee on Regulations recommended on Jan. 30 that Poroshenko be suspended over an alleged altercation with Servant of the People lawmaker Bohdan Yaremenko.
Poroshenko's European Solidarity party accused President Volodymyr Zelensky's office of pressuring the ruling Servant of the People party to bar him from attending parliamentary sessions.
"As the person who authored this request, I will definitely vote for a decision that will give an assessment. And, if necessary, a certain punishment," Poturayev said.
He added that European lawmakers could view a six-month suspension as disproportionate.
"I believe that if it were not for the war, then, according to the rules of procedure, the maximum that could happen to him is a suspension for three sessions, i.e., three days," Poturayev said.
"I hope that maybe the Committee on Regulations and other colleagues will be able to find some solution that will not be about six months."
The European Solidarity claims that lawmakers from the Servant of the People faction have been allegedly pressured to vote in favor of barring Poroshenko from sessions, calling it an attempt to block his parliamentary work.
European Solidarity MP Oleksii Honcharenko condemned the move as "outright persecution of the opposition," warning that it could harm Ukraine's democratic reputation.
"This decision can turn into a terrible story. You are not harming an individual politician now; you are harming the whole country," he said.
Yaremenko has not publicly commented on the incident, and the Verkhovna Rada has yet to support the committee's decision.
Tim Zadorozhnyy
(Updated: )
