CONSTITUTIONAL COURT OF UKRAINE

The 'Constitutional Court of Ukraine' () is the highest body of constitutional jurisdiction in Ukraine. The main task of the Court is to guarantee the supremacy of the Constitution of Ukraine as the fundamental law of the land.
The Court started its activity on October 18, 1996. The first Court ruling was made on May 13, 1997.

Contents

Mission and authority

Structure

List of judges

Famous and notorious rulings

Parliamentry Assembly of the Council or Europe

Court Contacts

See also

References

External links

Mission and authority

The Constitutional Court of Ukraine is established and governed by of Ukraine's Constitution and the laws of Ukraine.
The Constitutional Court of Ukraine is the sole body of constitutional jurisdiction in Ukraine.
The Constitutional Court of Ukraine decides on issues of conformity of laws and other legal acts with the Constitution of Ukraine and provides the official interpretation of the Constitution of Ukraine and the laws of Ukraine
The Court:

★ on the appeal of the President, no less than 45 members of the parliament, the Supreme Court of Ukraine, the Ombudsman, or the Crimean parliament, assesses the constitutionality of:

★
★ laws and other legal acts of the parliament

★
★ acts of the President

★
★ acts of the Cabinet

★
★ legal acts of the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Crimean parliament)

★ officially interprets the Constitution and laws of Ukraine

★ on the appeal of the President or the Cabinet, provides opinions on the conformity with the Constitution of international treaties

★ on the appeal of the parliament, provides an opinion on the observance of the procedure of impeachment of the President

★ provides an opinion on the compliance of a bill on introducing amendments to the Constitution with the restrictions imposed by the Constitution.
The Court's rulings are mandatory for execution in Ukraine, are final and cannot be appealed. Laws and other legal acts, or their separate provisions, that are deemed unconstitutional, lose legal force.

Structure

The Court is composed of 18 judges, appointed in equal shares by the President, the parliament, and the Congress of Judges.
A judge must be a citizen of Ukraine and must have:

★ attained the age of 40

★ a higher legal education and professional experience of no less than 10 years

★ resided in Ukraine for the last 20 years

★ command of the state language
Judges are appointed for 9 years without the right of reappointment. The President and parliament are required to fill a vacant position within one month and the Congress of judges has 3 months to do so.
The Chairman of the Court is elected by secret ballot for one 3-year term from the Court ranks. The current Chairman, Andriy Stryzhak, was chosen on July 10, 2007 after the previous chairman, Ivan Dombrovskyy, resigned.
Judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine are subject to the guarantees of independence and immunity and to the grounds for dismissal from office envisaged by Article 126 and the requirements concerning incompatibility as determined in Article 127, paragraph two of Ukraine's Constitution.

List of judges

★ President's quota:

★
★ Volodymyr Kampo (Володимир Михайлович Кампо) since August 4, 2006

★
★ Dmytro Lylak (Дмитро Дмитрович Лилак) since August 4, 2006

★
★ Viktor Shyshkin (Віктор Іванович Шишкін) since August 4, 2006

★
★ Syuzanna Stanik (Сюзанна Романівна Станік) since March 25, 2004; was dismissed by Victor Yushenko amd later returned by temporary restraining order and then fired again.⁵.
On July 20 Susanna Stanik won an appeal against the President in the Shevchenko district court of Kyiv. The Court ruled the President's actions illegal and reinstated Ms Stanik's entitlement as a member of Ukraine's Constitutional Court. According to the ruling, the President is obliged to cancel his decree on discharge of Mrs. Stanik.."^[1] The other two judges who were also illegally dismissed had previously tendered their resignations and as such were not subject to the courts order.
There are two vacant chairs in the President's quota, but the President can't fill it, because parliament is dissolved and new judges will not be able to swear an oath.

★ Parliament's quota:

★
★ Pavlo Tkachuk (Павло Миколайович Ткачук) since July, 2002

★
★ Anatoliy Holovin (Анатолій Сергійович Головін) since August 4, 2006

★
★ Mykhaylo Kolos (Михайло Іванович Колос) since August 4, 2006

★
★ Mariya Markush (Марія Андріївна Маркуш) since August 4, 2006

★
★ Vyacheslav Ovcharenko (В’ячеслав Андрійович Овчаренко) since August 4, 2006

★
★ Petro Stetsyuk (Петро Богданович Стецюк) since August 4, 2006

★ Congress of judges' quota:

★
★ Vasyl Bryntsev (Василь Дмитрович Бринцев) since August 4, 2006

★
★ Vyacheslav Dzhun' (В’ячеслав Васильович Джунь) since August 4, 2006

★
★ Anatoliy Didkivskyy (Анатолій Олександрович Дідківський) since August 4, 2006

★
★ Ivan Dombrovskyy (Іван Петрович Домбровський) since August 4, 2006;

★
★ Yaroslava Machuzhak (Ярослава Василівна Мачужак) since August 4, 2006

★
★ Andriy Stryzhak (Андрій Андрійович Стрижак) since August 4, 2006

Famous and notorious rulings

★ December 29, 1999: the Court interpreted the Constitution as unconditionally ruling out capital punishment; this is the date when Ukraine de jure abolished capital punishment after a long period of a de facto moratorium [1]

★ November 14, 2001: the Court outlawed the institution of propiska [2]

★ December 25, 2003: the Court allowed Kuchma to run for presidency for the third time (Kuchma chose not to run) [3]

Parliamentry Assembly of the Council or Europe

On April 19 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe passed a resolution in consideration of a report titled Functioning of democratic institutions in Ukraine. ^{(Items 13 and 14) [2]} stated:
The associated explanatory report under the sub-heading of '''Pressure on the courts''' expressed concern that
In emphasis the report ^{(item 68)} stated
On April 30, on the eve of the Constitutional Court's ruling on the legality of the president's decree dismissing Ukraine's parliament, President Yushchenko, in defiance of the PACE resolution of April 19 intervened in the operation of Ukraine's Constitutional Court by summarily dismissing two Constitutional Court Judges, Syuzanna Stanik and Valeriy Pshenychnyy, for allegations of "oath treason."^[3] His move was later overturned by the Constitutional Court and the judges were returned by a temporary restraining order issued by the court. ^[4]

Syuzanna Stanik - Constitutional Court public released photograph

On May 16,Viktor Yushchenko, for a second time, issued another decree dismissing the two Constitutional Court Judges Syuzanna Stanik and Valeriy Pshenychnyy.^[5]
On May 17, the Constitutional Court Chairman Ivan Dombrovskyy resigns and is replaced by Valeriy Pshenychnyy.
On May 23, The Constitutional Court of Ukraine acted to prevent the president's undue influence on the court system.^[6] The court's ruling was made after Viktor Yushchenko unduly sought to influence the court by illegally firing two Constitutional Court judges Valeriy Pshenychnyy and Syuzanna Stanik for allegations of "oath treason."^[3].
On July 20 Susanna Stanik won an appeal against the President in the Shevchenko district court of Kyiv. The Court ruled the President's actions illegal and reinstated Ms Stanik's entitlement as a member of Ukraine's Constitutional Court. According to the ruling, the President is obliged to cancel his decree on discharge of Mrs. Stanik.."^[1] The other two judges who were also illegally dismissed had previously tendered their resignations and as such were not subject to the courts order.
Following the president's intervention the Constitutional Court still has not ruled on the question of legality of the president's actions.
Stepan Havrsh, the President's appointee to the Constitutional Court, in prejudgment of the courts decision and without authorization from the Court itself, commented in an interview published on July 24
Olexander Lavrynovych, Ukrainain Minister for Justice, in an interview published on Aug 3 is quoted as saying

Court Contacts

Citizens of Ukraine, noncitizens, people without citizenship and legal entities can only ask the Court for interpretation of the Constitution and laws of Ukraine. A written request can be submitted in person or by mail. Court's address is 01033, Ukraine, Kiev, vyl. Zhylyanska, 14. Contact phone is (+380-44)238-1317.

See also

References

1. Stanik Back Into the CC
2. Functioning of democratic institutions in Ukraine PACE
3. Yushchenko dismissed CCU judges
4. Stanik and Pshenychnyy returned to CC
5. Stanik and Pshenychnyy again became ex-judges of Constitutional Court
6. Constitutional Court of Ukraine restricts president's influence on courts
7. Yushchenko dismissed CCU judges
8. Stanik Back Into the CC

External links

★ Official web-site of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine

★ Law of Ukraine "On the Constitutional Court of Ukraine" No. 422/96-ВР, dated October 16, 1996, promulgated October 22, 1996