KYIV — Ukrainian lawmakers have approved Iryna Venedyktova as the country’s first female prosecutor-general.
On March 17, the country’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, approved Venedyktova for the post after she was nominated by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Venedyktova, a former deputy who is currently the acting director of the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), has promised to beef-up reforms at what she called a “powerful institution.”
Venedyktova, 41, a member of Zelenskiy’s ruling Servant of the People party, was elected to the Verkhovna Rada in the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary elections.
Venedyktova is said to have clashed with her predecessor, Ruslan Ryaboshapka, over a case the SBI was investigating against a Zelenskiy foe, ex-President Petro Poroshenko.
She has also been at odds with local media.
Last week she filed a lawsuit against Ukrayinska Pravda for republishing an article by the Anti-Corruption Action Centre that alleged her husband was influencing personnel policy at the SBI.
Ryaboshapka left the post after lawmakers passed a no-confidence vote in him on March 5.