Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov has appealed to Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman to convene an extraordinary Cabinet meeting to submit a draft resolution on ceasing protection of judicial institutions by the National Police and National Guard.
"Earlier this morning, I asked the prime minister to convene an extraordinary meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers. I don't see how in such circumstances police and National Guard forces could perform a function, not natural to them, of protecting courts," Avakov wrote on Facebook.
Read alsoEx-SBU chief's testimony: Russian FSB officers visited Ukraine three times amid Maidan protests"In the current conditions of the actual sabotage by judges and the judiciary, I will submit a draft Cabinet resolution on the cessation of the functions of protection of judicial institutions by the National Police and National Guard. Let them protect themselves if in this transition period they consider that shooting at and wounding a policeman a misdemeanor," Avakov added.
The statement came following a failure by a Kyiv's Shevchenkivskiy district court to remand in custody as a preventive measure a protester who wounded a policeman outside the Solomensky district courthouse in Kyiv on Feb 15.
"The judge of the Shevchenkivskiy court released a man who had wounded a policeman while he was protecting the court against penetration by radicals. In fact, the court approved the shooting of a policeman, ruling it a misdemeanor. This ugly ruling obliges me, as a minister who is in charge of the National Police and National Guard, to take adequate response measures," the minister said.
Avakov also demands from the High Council of Justice "immediate reaction" to the actions of the judge, who ruled on the light measure of restraint for the shooter.
Read alsoUkrainian prosecutors confirm murder of four marines near ShyrokyneHe recalled that the judicial institutions should be protected by the relevant Judicial Protection Service.
"In accordance with Article 160 of the Ukrainian law on the judicial system and the status of judges, the relevant protection of courts must be carried out by a special judicial protection service. The creation of this service has for years been sabotaged by the State Judicial Administration. It is unclear how the funds allocated from the state budget are being spent," he wrote.
As UNIAN reported earlier, on February 15, a Ukrainian law enforcer took a gunshot in the leg amid clashes between police and groups of aggressive protesters outside the Solomensky district court in Kyiv where a preventive measure was being selected for Odesa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov, charged with embezzlement.
