DONETSK, March 12 (RAPSI) - Ukraine’s Supreme Administrative Court has begun hearing a claim challenging the legitimacy of the decision to appoint Aleksandr Turchinov as acting president of the Ukraine, plaintiff Vladimir Olentsevich, an attorney from Donetsk, told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.

In early March, Olentsevich filed a lawsuit claiming that the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine’s parliament) decisions were unlawful, particularly referring to its imposition of “the presidential authority on Aleksandr Turchinov, when the lawfully elected head of the state Viktor Yanukovich was still in office.”

On February 22, the Verkhovna Rada impeached Yanukovich and amended the constitution. The presidential powers were assigned to the parliament speaker Aleksander Turchinov. The parliament scheduled presidential election for May 25.

Yanukovich said earlier that he was forced to leave Ukraine under a threat to his life, but that he remains the legitimate president of the country. Russia has filed an inquiry with the Venice Commission seeking answers on the legitimacy of decisions made by the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada.