KYIV -- Ukraine's parliament has approved simplified procedures for detaining or arresting lawmakers.
According to amendments adopted on January 16 to parliamentary regulations, parliament can decide if a lawmaker can be stripped of immunity.
Previously, a parliamentary committee had to preapprove rescinding a deputy's immunity.
Lawmakers voted for the amendment by a show of hands, not electronically, as the opposition has been blocking the parliament's podium since January 14.
The leader of the ruling Party of Regions faction in parliament, Oleksandr Yefremov, told reporters that now it will be "scary" for some lawmakers "to be heroes without parliamentary mandates."
The leader of the opposition Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) faction, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, told journalists that the parliamentary session was illegitimate as its goal was to make it possible to persecute opposition lawmakers.
According to amendments adopted on January 16 to parliamentary regulations, parliament can decide if a lawmaker can be stripped of immunity.
Previously, a parliamentary committee had to preapprove rescinding a deputy's immunity.
Lawmakers voted for the amendment by a show of hands, not electronically, as the opposition has been blocking the parliament's podium since January 14.
The leader of the ruling Party of Regions faction in parliament, Oleksandr Yefremov, told reporters that now it will be "scary" for some lawmakers "to be heroes without parliamentary mandates."
The leader of the opposition Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) faction, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, told journalists that the parliamentary session was illegitimate as its goal was to make it possible to persecute opposition lawmakers.