PACE Immunity Vote Means Lawmakers Are 'Protected Against Sanctions'

The recent resolution by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) against blacklisting lawmakers provides stronger guarantees for their safety, a Cypriot lawmaker told Sputnik.

STRASBOURG (Sputnik), Daria Chernyshova – On Tuesday, PACE adopted a resolution that seeks guarantees of PACE lawmakers' immunity and their free movement, as well as condemns the restrictive measures against lawmakers. A Ukrainian lawmaker, however, interpreted the resolution as allowing PACE to punish the lawmakers who travel to Crimea and Donbass.

"On the contrary, I think that all members of this organization [PACE] are fully protected against sanctions that a country could try to impose under the national law," George Loukaides said.

The resolution was amended prior to the adoption, with the changes proposed mostly by Ukrainian and Georgian delegates seeking to make the resolution focused not on a general problem of hindering the work of parliamentarians, but concentrating on Georgian and Ukrainian tensions with Russia.

Loukaides stressed that despite "some amendments in a negative direction proposed by Ukrainian and Georgian colleagues," the adopted resolution was a "good" document and the authors of the amendments could not reach their goals through them.