KIEV, July 7 (RAPSI) - Members of the Ukrainian parliament could lose their mandates and be arrested for sympathizing with eastern Ukraine rebels, Ukrainskaya Pravda reports citing Verkhovna Rada Speaker Alexander Tuchynov.

“The Verkhovna Rada will not hold back this process and, after considering the issue, will allow the investigative agencies to arrest those deputies who are working against their own country,” the speaker said.

Earlier, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office opened three criminal cases against Oleg Tsarev after he publicly supported the federalization of the country at protests in Donetsk. He was charged with separatism and instigating a forceful change away from the constitutional form of government. At the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Verkhovna Rada deprived Tsarev of his immunity and approved his arrest.

Last February in Ukraine, after months of public protests largely influenced by right-wing radicals, the government was pushed out as the result of a coup. The eastern regions of the country did not recognize the new government and sought a referendum on their status. Later, the Donetsk and Lugansk regions proclaimed themselves people’s republics. In April, the Ukrainian army started a military operation in the east. New president Petro Poroshenko then proposed a plan for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.