Ukraine’s Prosecutor General's Office press service did not explain what the Prosecutor General meant when claiming about "punishment for dual citizenship," so these theses should be refuted, as they are missing in the domestic legislation.
Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko stated:
- “The acquisition of dual citizenship is strictly prohibited by the Ukrainian Constitution.”
False. The Constitution does not prohibit double/multiple citizenships. According to Art. 4 of Ukraine’s Constitution, Ukraine has a single citizenship. This means that in legal relations with Ukraine, Ukraine’s citizen that has become a citizen of another state is recognized only as a citizen of Ukraine, and he does not lose his Ukrainian citizenship automatically.
- “There can be no two interpretations: if there is evidence of dual citizenship, this must be punished...”
Criminal Code of Ukraine does not consider dual citizenship a crime, accordingly, there is no punishment for it. No one can be punished in Ukraine for dual or multiple citizenships.
- “If the cases of dual citizenship are established during the investigation of the Security Service, the same story is waiting: they will be deprived of the Ukrainian citizenship."
Our legislation does not have an institution of "deprivation" of citizenship. We have "cessation of citizenship," and this is a completely different procedure.
The General Prosecutor mentioned Andriy Artemenko, whom Ukraine’s President has deprived of the Ukrainian citizenship after finding his second passport. This is not true. The president has ceased Artemenko’s citizenship, not depriving him of it.
Read the original text on Facebook
