KYIV. June 3 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) has agreed to strip Party of Regions MP Oleh Tsarev of immunity from criminal prosecution.
This decision was supported by 235 MPs at a Verkhovna Rada session on Tuesday.
Shortly afterwards, Parliament Speaker Oleksandr Turchynov asked parliamentarians to vote in favor of detaining Tsarev and remanding him into custody.
This initiative was backed by 226 MPs.
The Ukrainian Prosecutor's Office earlier opened a criminal investigation against Tsarev, accusing him of calls for separatism.
Representatives of the parliamentary majority have repeated accused Tsarev of cooperating with the "insurgents" in the east of Ukraine, claiming that Tsarev's actions show signs of "encroachment on the territorial integrity of the country".
The Verkhovna Rada adopted a law on May 6, permitting both the prosecutor general and the acting prosecutor general to ask parliament to strip any MP at the center of a criminal inquiry of immunity from criminal prosecution.
On May 29, the Prosecutor General's Office applied to the Verkhovna Rada for permission to prosecute Tsarev and remand him into custody. This request was supported by 206 MPs of the required 226 during a tentative vote. The entire parliamentary faction of the Communist Party of Ukraine voted against the move. So did the Party of Regions, except for Hanna Herman. After the vote, Turchynov promised to revisit this issue on June 3.