NABU and SAP were created in 2015 with guaranteed prosecutorial independence. That was a key demand for EU integration, Kryvonos added, as he urged Zelenskyy to veto the bill.
Zelenskyy’s office did not immediately respond to POLITICO’s request for comment.
“This decision would effectively stop our integration into the European Union, as an effective fight against corruption was a key conditionality. And we were praised for NABU and SAP work,” said Tetiana Shevchuk, a lawyer at the Anti-Corruption Action Center, Ukraine’s top watchdog organization.
Even though many in Ukraine have disputed NABU’s effectiveness, Shevchuk said that dozens of charges against members of parliament, judges and officials prove that the organization was doing its job.
“They came for those who were untouchable before,” she added.
Soldiers on the battlefield spoke out against the law, while one prominent journalist warned of broader democratic reversion in Ukraine.
“Last week, we ran an editorial warning of an anti-democratic backslide in Ukraine. Today, it’s happening in plain sight,” said Olga Rudenko, chief editor at the Kyiv Independent.
“This isn’t what our people have been fighting and dying for, and it’s devastatingly unfair to them,” she added.
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