KIEV, Jan. 23 – Ukrainian opposition lawmakers successfully collected 158 signatures under a petition initiating an emergency session of Parliament on January 29, Arseniy Yatseniuk, an opposition leader, said Wednesday.

At the session the opposition groups plan to hold a no-confidence vote in Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka and other law enforcement officials following a growing pressure on jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko.

“The opposition have fulfilled all requirements for initiating the session,” Yatseniuk, the leader of the Batkivshchyna group, said.

Volodymyr Rybak, the speaker of Parliament, in response to the petition has to authorize the session within the next seven days, according to the law.

The developments come amid concerns that rising confrontation between the opposition groups and pro-government lawmakers that may trigger a political crisis in Ukraine.

Neither President Viktor Yanukovych nor opposition groups control a clear majority in the 450-seat Parliament, with vote usually decided by 30-40 independent lawmakers. These lawmakers sided with Yanukovych earlier this month to approve a reshuffle at the National Bank of Ukraine.

Pshonka, Internal Affairs Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko and SBU security service chief Oleksandr Yakymenko will be summoned up to Parliament to report on prosecution and treatment of Tymoshenko in jail.

The developments come in reaction to plans by prosecutors to seek life in prison for jailed Tymoshenko for her alleged involvement in the murder of Yevhen Shcherban, a powerful lawmaker and businessman, in 1996.

Tymoshenko denied the charges, which she said were politically motivated to eliminate her from political life.

Pshonka said on Friday that investigators had completed their investigation into the killing of businessman and lawmaker Yevhen Shcherban in 1996 and concluded that Tymoshenko and then Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko had ordered the murder, paying the killers $2.8 million.

Tymoshenko, who was “served notice of suspicion” on Friday, is already on trial for alleged financial crimes when she headed a gas-trading firm in the 1990s.

The trial was adjourned on Friday after she didn't appear in court due to her continued ill health, her lawyer said. Prosecutors accused her of trying to "avoid responsibility." (tl/ez)