Parliament gave a second reading to and passed as a whole the bill on ad hoc investigative commissions. Before the final vote, MPs added a section about impeachment to it.
Bill No 1098 was approved by 279 MPs.
According to the bill, parliament may set up a special investigative commission under Article 111 of the Constitution of Ukraine to investigate high treason or other crime committed by the president of Ukraine.
It would require at least 300 MPs' signatures to initiate an impeachment procedure and set up such a commission.
The bill describes the functions of a special investigative commission and conditions for the appointment of a special prosecutor and his or her functions.
A special investigative commission dealing with impeachment is set up for three months. Once this term expires, its members must present their findings and proposals on further action: either to issue a draft resolution to charge the president or a draft resolution on the end of an impeachment procedure.
Conclusions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine and the Supreme Court would be required to impeach the president.
In late May, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sent his bill on impeachment to parliament. His representative in parliament Ruslan Stefanchuk said that impeachment should be regulated by a separate law, not the law on ad hoc investigative commissions.
Zelenskyy suggested parliament should pass the impeachment bill simultaneously with lifting MPs' immunity from prosecution.
The president may veto bills adopted by parliament.