Rada passed Zelensky's law on NABU and SAP: how it was met by protesters

The Ukrainian parliament has passed the presidential draft law No 13533, which returns independence to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP). A total of 331 MPs voted in favour of the initiative, indicating broad parliamentary support and political consensus on anti-corruption reform.

The draft law was considered and adopted at once as a basis and as a whole. This happened after the recommendation of the relevant law-enforcement committee of the Verkhovna Rada, which approved the document without a single amendment. The text remained the same as it was proposed by the president and did not cause any disagreements among the people's elected representatives.

The reason for the appearance of the presidential initiative was a loud scandal caused by the law No. 12414 adopted by the Rada on 22 July. This document, which was adopted in the second reading with additional amendments, actually stripped the NABU and the SAP of their independence by transferring key powers to the prosecutor-general. In particular, the prosecutor-general was given the right to interfere in investigations, change the investigative jurisdiction, sign suspicions of top officials and give binding instructions to NABU detectives.

Attempts to block the adoption of this law, including through physical blocking of the rostrum and calls to withdraw the draft from consideration, were unsuccessful. Despite the protests, the document received 263 votes and entered into force on 23 July after being published in the official parliamentary newspaper.

The resonance was so strong that in response to criticism both domestically and from international partners, the president initiated a new draft law No. 13533, which repeals the most controversial provisions of the previous law and restores the independence of key anti-corruption bodies. Quick consideration and almost unanimous support in the Rada was an attempt to correct the mistake and demonstrate Ukraine's commitment to European standards of justice and anti-corruption policy.

And here is how they reacted to the return of the law at the rally in Kiev - watch the video.