PACE Secretariat rejects Ukrainian MP’s amendment labeling Putin terrorist

Merezhko disclosed this in a comment to European Pravda and provided supporting documents.

The incident occurred during the preparation of the resolution “Europe’s Commitment to a Just and Sustainable Peace in Ukraine”, which the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is set to discuss on Thursday.

Ahead of the discussion, PACE was registering proposals for amendments to the document. Oleksandr Merezhko, along with other PACE members (including five representatives from Ukraine, among them the head of the Ukrainian delegation, as well as Swedish MP Markus Wiechel), proposed an amendment stating that the Assembly would “recognize that Vladimir Putin is a terrorist under whose leadership numerous acts of terror against the civilian population have been committed.” However, when the list of all submitted proposals was published, this amendment was not included.

The Secretariat explained to Merezhko that “labeling a head of state as a terrorist is equivalent to using offensive and inappropriate language, which is not suitable for an official Assembly document.”

“The Secretariat claims that amendments cannot contain personal insults. But, excuse me, any international law expert understands that ‘terrorist’ is a legal term. Moreover, the Assembly has already recognized Russia as a terrorist regime!” Merezhko argued.

He also expressed the opinion that “it is not the Secretariat’s job to decide what is offensive to whom.”

“There are PACE members who can reject my amendment. That’s how the democratic process works. But what has happened now is an act of political censorship,” Merezhko stated.

• On January 29, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution demanding new elections in Georgia. In response, the ruling party Georgian Dream announced the suspension of its participation in the Assembly.