23/04/2013 Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Strasbourg, 23.04.2013 – Politicians should be protected from criminal prosecution based on their political decisions, while being held to account for criminal acts or omissions – such as acting for personal gain or violating the fundamental rights of others – PACE’s Legal Affairs Committee has said.
Approving a report by Pieter Omtzigt (Netherlands, EPP/CD), the committee said the ultimate judges of political decisions should be voters, and listed a number of principles for distinguishing political decision-making from criminal acts.
Concerning Ukraine, the committee said it was “deeply troubled” by the manner in which the country’s justice system is abused for the persecution of political opponents. The principles on the separation of political and criminal responsibility have been violated in the criminal cases brought against former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and former Interior Minister Yuri Lutsenko, the committee said.