BYuT faction expels Omelchenko for slander

The parliamentary faction of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc has expelled MP Hryhoriy Omelchenko.

Since Omelchenko represented the BYuT faction among Verkhovna Rada's delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, it was decided to replace him with Serhiy Sobolev, deputy head of the faction. Information placed on the BYuT website says that Omelchenko had been expelled "because of corrupt activities, low morals and cynical slander of his associates." As reported, Omelchenko appealed for withdrawal from Yulia Tymoshenko's Batkivschyna party, saying he was unwilling to have one party membership with ex-criminals. The Artek debauchery scandal served as the occasion. Omelchenko told the Prosecutor General's Office that BYuT members Viktor Ukolov, Serhiy Terekhin and Ruslan Bohdan had a hand in the affair. He insists that his appeal was made public by Party of Regions' Vadym Kolesnychenko without Omelchenko's consent.