The Verkhovna Rada failed to add an antidiscrimination rule to the Ukrainian Labor Code.
Only 206 deputies supported the draft law, while 226 votes were needed.
If approved, the law would prohibit any kind of employment discrimination based on gender identity, disability, presence of HIV/AIDS, political, religious and other beliefs, or other features.
Adoption of the law is necessary to proceed in the process of lifting visa restrictions between the EU and Ukraine.
Volodymyr Hroysman, the parliament speaker, promised to reconsider the issue.
Lawyers for Russians Aleksandr Aleksandrov and Yevgeny Yerofeyev now say that their defendants falsely claimed to be unemployed. According to the defense, the defendants are employed by the national police of the so-called “LPR.”
The lawyers will ask the court to clarify the question about the men’s employment, considering the language barrier.
“The issue lies in a defect of translation. The translator is not a lawyer. [The question] was translated as: ‘Where are you working now?’ If it was a question about where he worked at the time of detention, it would be another thing. They worked under a contract in the national police of ‘LPR.’ There are documents,” said Aleksandrov’s lawyer Yuriy Hrabovskyy.
“He doesn’t understand why he is called Russia’s serviceman. He said that he was unemployed. The man doesn’t have legal education. … He really doesn’t work, so he considers himself unemployed. However, I am sure that he wasn’t fired and tha he remains an acting member of Luhansk national police,” said Yerofeyev’s lawyer Oksana Sokolovska.
During the trial that started today, the two men claimed to be unemployed.
In a video published in May, Aleksandrov and Yerofeyev said they were on active duty with the Russian military in eastern Ukraine when they were captured on May 16.
Moscow says the two men were no longer employed by the state when they were captured.
Protesters outside the Ukrainian parliament who are demanding deputies vote for laws required by the EU to lift the visa regime, are using Game of Thrones references.
“Cersei also didn’t listen to her people,” this banner reads.