The mayor of Yuzhnoukrainsk reinstated himself in office by his own order

Deprived of his powers, Yuzhnoukrainsk Mayor Valerii Onufriienko resumed his post.

This is evidenced by the data entered into the state register on April 16, writes NikVesti.

Before that, on April 15, the secretary of the city council, acting as the mayor, signed an order to terminate them, and Valerii Onufriienko himself reinstated himself in the post of mayor by his order.

«Guided by clauses 19, 20 of part 4 of article 42 of the Law of Ukraine «On Local Self-Government in Ukraine», in accordance with the decision of the Mykolaiv District Administrative Court №400/3475/22 dated 19.12.2023, I continue to perform the duties of the mayor from 16.04.2024», says the order signed by Valerii Onufriienko.

The reinstatement of the mayor was preceded by the recent decision of the Fifth Administrative Court of Appeal, which closed the appeals in the case of Valerii Onufriienko.

During the consideration of this issue at the meeting of the deputy commission of the South Ukrainian City Council, it was discussed that the court only canceled the decision of the deputies to terminate their powers, and did not reinstate him in the post of mayor.

In particular, the position of the state registrar was voiced at the meeting, who noted that it is impossible to return to the exercise of powers only on the basis of a court decision, the decision of the South Ukrainian City Council must be made.

At the last session of the city council, the lawyer explained that there are no clear explanations in the court decision regarding the return of the city mayor to his post. For this, Valery Onufriienko himself had to contact the body to get clarification on further actions within the framework of the law.

«He is an interested person in solving this issue. He could apply to the court to clarify the implementation of this decision. Since, in accordance with the legislation, the body that resolves the legal dispute, and in our case it is the administrative court, had to resolve the issue of his reinstatement. The question was not clearly resolved. The most objective and reasonable decision in this case will be to turn to the court for an explanation,» the lawyer said during her speech.

The next session of the South Ukrainian City Council is scheduled to take place on Thursday, April 25.

Resignation of Valerii Onufriienko

On April 27, a draft decision on the early termination of the powers of Mayor Valerii Onufriienko appeared on the website of the Southern Ukrainian City Council. The draft decision on the early termination of powers was initiated by the head of the commission on ethics and legality, deputy from «European Solidarity» Olena Petryna.

In the explanatory note to the document, she claimed that the mayor of Yuzhnoukrainsk repeatedly violated the law and even beat his deputy Maria Drozdova. The Yuzhnoukrainsk newspaper «Kontakt» also reported that because of this incident, the mayor was deprived of the right to carry a weapon, which was issued to him during martial law.

Later, he was informed about the suspicion of committing a crime.

On June 16, deputies of the Southern Ukrainian City Council recognized the unsatisfactory work of Mayor Valerii Onufriienko and prematurely terminated his powers.

Valerii Onufriienko became the mayor in November 2020. He ran for «Servant of the People» and won with a margin of 1% of the vote.