KYIV. Jan 28 (Interfax) - Ukrainian faction leaders and parliamentary leader Volodymyr Rybak agreed during their consultations to repeal most of the laws passed on January 16, Svoboda (Freedom) faction leader Oleh Tyahnybok said.
"One question that we have already finally agreed upon is the repealing of the January 16 laws. Nine of the 12 laws voted upon will be repealed, except for the budget, amnesty and a temporary investigative commission," he told reporters on Tuesday.
With regard to four of the bills passed on January 16, the authorities insist on a repeat vote: "i.e. their legal confirmation - on gas, two so-called 'fascist' laws and the law on legal aid," Tyahnybok said.
The faction leaders have agreed to vote in parliament on these four laws in a package, Tyahnybok said.
"The Svoboda (Freedom) Party will not be voting for the package-confirmation because those bills are not compliant with legal norms," he said.
Such a decision is the first step we managed to achieve, Tyahnybok also said.
On January 16 Verkhovna Rada passed a number of bills without a debate by the raising of hands. The texts of some of the laws only became available after deputies voted for them. The Party of Regions faction said the opposition obstructed a normal voting process. The opposition said the laws were passed in violation of the regulations and described them as essentially "a coup d'etat."
Among those passed were the law "On changes to the Ukrainian law on court system and judges' status and the procedural laws regarding additional remedies for citizens" authored by Party of Regions deputies Vladimir Oleynik and Vadim Kolesnichenko, as well as the law on changes to the Verkhovna Rada regulations which makes it easier to give consent to criminal prosecution, detention or arrest of people's deputies who committed a crime.
Also passed were: the law imposing liability for administrative road traffic offences that would be automatically registered; the law imposing liability for administrative offenses during soccer matches; the law changing the Criminal Procedural Code's provisions regarding a trial in absentia. Parliamentarians voted for the law dropping criminal charges against the participants of the peaceful assemblies held between November 21 and December 26, the law changing the Ukrainian law on free legal aid (deferring the enactment of the provisions in Clause 6 Section VI "Final and transitional provisions"), the law imposing liability for vandalism at WWII graves and the law changing the Criminal Code's provisions regarding the denial or justification of the crimes committed by fascists and their collaborators.
Rada also passed the government-proposed changes to the Tax Code resuming the value-added tax exemption of natural gas imports which was suspended in late 2013.