The executive endorsed the bill to amend the Constitution for excluding the immunity of MPs, IPN reports.

Thus, there will be removed Article 70, par. (3) of the Constitution, which provides that the MPs cannot be detained, arrested, searched, except for cases when these are caught red-handed, or sued without the Parliament’s consent, after listening to these.

When the changes take effect, the MPs will be investigated and prosecuted without the preliminary consent of the legislative body.

The informative note to the bill says the immunity should not be an obstacle to administering justice. The elimination of immunity will not lead to the limitation of the independence of MPs and will not affect their freedom of opinion and vote.

The Venice Commission considers the norms that regulate parliamentary inviolability are not a necessary part of a modern democracy, while the European Court of Human Rights said that when a state recognizes the immunity of its MPs, the protection of basic rights can be affected.

The initiative to annual parliamentary immunity was put forward by a group of MPs. The bill was already passed in the first reading by Parliament on March 30.