Updated 1:03 p.m. Moscow Time
MOSCOW, October 16 (RIA Novosti) – The bill on vetting of officials, which came into force Thursday in Ukraine, de-facto legitimizes political persecution, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Special Representative for Human Rights said.
“As far as vetting is concerned, the West hushes up this issue. In fact, [the law] legitimizes political persecution,” Russian Foreign Ministry's Special Representative for Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law Konstantin Dolgov said.
The Ukrainian parliament adopted the law on lustration or anti-corruption screenings in mid-September. According to Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the vetting would affect about one million public officials at all levels, employees of law enforcement agencies and "the entire cabinet of ministers."
The bill states that officials who fail to pass or do not agree to the screening, apart from those applying for or occupying elected positions shall be dismissed by the inspection body from office with prohibition to hold public posts for ten years.
The screening of government officials was one of Maidan activists’ principal demands, who in February drew up the criteria for selection of the “Government of National Trust.”
