Currently, the issue of “deprivation of citizenship” is acute, especially after the news that some businessmen and MPs were left without Ukrainian citizenship. Is it legal - said lawyer Angelina Klimchuk.
“According to the Law of Ukraine “On Citizenship”, it is the President who makes decisions and issues decrees, respectively, on the acquisition and termination of citizenship.
According to the Law (Article 19), there are 3 grounds for loss of citizenship:
- voluntary acquisition by a citizen of Ukraine of the citizenship of another state;
- acquisition by a person of citizenship of Ukraine as a result of fraud, including the use of false documents to obtain the status of a citizen of Ukraine;
- voluntary entry into the military service of another state.
A citizen of Ukraine cannot be deprived of citizenship and expelled from the country.
However, Article 106 of the Constitution says that the President decides whether to accept Ukrainian citizenship or terminate it. That is, it is impossible to deprive, but it is quite possible to stop.
The terms “deprivation of citizenship” and “loss of citizenship” have a significant difference: the former is regarded as a punishment for a crime, and as a result of deprivation, a person becomes generally stateless (a stateless person). And the loss of citizenship is considered as a consequence precisely for violation of the legislation on citizenship and can be applied to a person, provided that the loss of citizenship does not entail a case of statelessness of the person.
In Ukraine, deprivation of citizenship is prohibited.
Practice shows that the President may, at his own discretion, decide on the loss (termination) of citizenship of Ukraine. And the grounds for acquiring and terminating citizenship of Ukraine are determined by law“.
According to the lawyer, there are examples of loss of citizenship in Ukraine. The most famous one is with Mikheil Saakashvili.
“In his case, President Poroshenko first gave a Ukrainian passport, and then took it away in 2017. Also an example with Andrey Artemenko. He had a Ukrainian passport at his place of birth, but Petro Poroshenko terminated his citizenship due to the fact that he also had a Canadian passport. Finally, Saakashvili got his passport back by the decree of Vladimir Zelensky, and Artemenko lost the trial in Ukraine and lives in Canadaand”.
Earlier wrote that Gennady Korban made a statement about Ukrainian citizenship.
Source: Fakty
