Odesa mayor Trukhanov intends to appeal the revocation of his citizenship and remain in Ukraine despite the president’s decree

Odesa Mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov stated that he will challenge in court the decision of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to revoke his citizenship, although he has not yet seen the decree itself.

The city head announced this in an interview with the TV channel Suspilne.

“I will defend myself, I will file a lawsuit. If the court cannot resolve the issue, I will file an appeal with the European Court of Human Rights,” Trukhanov said.

Trukhanov also said that he does not intend to leave Odesa or Ukraine after being stripped of his citizenship.

He believes that this move aims to remove him from future mayoral elections, since, in his opinion, he would win them.

Meanwhile, Presidential Office adviser Serhiy Leshchenko predicted that the decree revoking Trukhanov’s citizenship will not be published.

“It is not worth expecting publication of the president’s decree on Trukhanov, because decrees on citizenship are not published openly due to the presence of personal data — neither about granting citizenship, nor about other issues. When Kolomoiskyi was stripped of citizenship, that decree was also not published,” Leshchenko wrote on social media.

It should be noted that a decree on revocation of citizenship enters into force immediately. It can be appealed to the Supreme Court, but as practice shows, this process is very slow.

Meanwhile, representatives of the Ukrainian political establishment have already reacted to the decree. MP from Odesa Oleksiy Honcharenko condemned the revocation of the mayor’s citizenship. He considers this decision illegal and one that enables the persecution of political opponents.

“In a rule-of-law state, you cannot just take and deprive someone of citizenship. Whether anyone likes it or not, Trukhanov was elected by the people of Odesa. Moreover, he was born in Odesa. If he is to be removed, this must be done solely in a legal manner. There are many questions for Trukhanov — criminal cases have been opened against him. So investigate, prove, take the case to court. Today they will take citizenship from Trukhanov and everyone will rejoice because he is ‘bad’, and tomorrow the repressive machine will be launched against inconvenient people,” Honcharenko wrote on Telegram.

He believes that this decision marks the end of local self-government in Ukraine.

As a reminder, today Zelensky announced that he had signed a decree revoking the Ukrainian citizenship of certain individuals, among whom is Trukhanov.