Rada appoints new human rights commissioner

The appointment was approved by 250 out of 421 sitting MPs.

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Lubinets was nominated to replace former commissioner Lyudmyla Denisova, by Verkhovna Rada’s Chairman Ruslan Stefanchuk.

Ukraine’s parliament dismissed Ombudsperson Lyudmyla Denisova on May 31, following an appeal to her by representatives of the Ukrainian media and journalists to be more cautious in reporting sexual crimes during the war.

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The appeal was published by Detector Media on May 25, signed by 89 representatives of the media and journalists and 51 other people, including human rights activists, lawyers, psychologists, teachers and NGO reps.

The authors of the appeal expressed concern about the ombudsperson's rhetoric in her social media posts about sexual crimes during the war. They stressed that Russian war criminals must be punished, but reporting of such crimes must be done with caution, especially concerning children and minors.

Denisova said she intends to appeal her dismissal in courts.

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Lubinets entered parliament in 2014, as an ally of then-President Petro Poroshenko. He left Poroshenko’s party in 2019, and was re-elected as an independent.