Rally held in Odessa to protest new regional Prosecutor General
On Sunday, near the Duke de Richelieu monument, several hundred citizens of Odessa held a protest against the appointment of the Prosecutor General of the Odessa Region (GPO), Nikolai Stoyanov, as reported by a correspondent from Interfax Ukraine.
After the meeting, participants marched to the GPO’s building where they continued to protest.
Participants promised to block the Prosecutor’s Office so that Sroyanov could not access his workplace.
As reported on Friday, activists from various pro-Ukrainian organizations protesting against Stoyanov’s appointment held protests near the GPO’s building and after which, at about 18:15 they blocked the Kiev-Odessa highway continuously moving along the crosswalk and blocking traffic in both directions. The blockage lasted about an hour and a half.
Odessa citizens have picketed the regional Prosecutor’s General Office due to the appointment of Stoyanov as the Prosecutor General for several days. Earlier, they gave an ultimatum to dismiss Stoyanov by 17:00, 1 April 2016.
Earlier, on 29 March, the then Prosecutor General, Viktor Shokin, dismissed his Deputy, David Sakvarelidze, who was the Prosecutor of the Odessa Region. On the same day, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine agreed on Shokin’s dismissal.
In the evening of the same day, Stoyanov was appointed as the Prosecutor of the Odessa Region. Stoyanov had previously headed the Odessa Region’s Prosecutor’s office in 2014.