Constitutional Court under pressure

Ukraine's Constitutional Court has felt compelled to reissue a statement of concern about "Pressure on the Courts".  
The last time they issued such a warning was in 2007 when the Court was under pressure by the President of Ukraine who illegally interfered with the independence and operation of the Constitutional Court in order to prevent the court from ruling against  Yushchenko's  decree dismissing Ukraine's previous Parliament.  - The Court took no action against the President.
The Constitutional Court never ruled on the question of constitutionality of the President's April 2, 2007 decree.
On September 9, 2009 the Constitutional Court issued the following statement (translation by Google)

CONSTITUTIONAL COURT OF UKRAINE

In socio-political situation, some politicians, officials perceived ambiguously separate decision by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine: they give different assessments, including critical. Article 34 of the Constitution of Ukraine provides for the right of everyone to freedom of thought and speech, to freely express their views and beliefs. At the same time that article provides for the legislative restriction of that right given to the highest public interest, which is classified as maintaining the authority and impartiality of justice. Influencing judges in any manner prohibited by Article 126 of the Constitution of Ukraine.

Since the resumption of plenary meetings in 2006, some state officials and politicians regularly in various forms, trying to intervene, sometimes with threats to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. In these circumstances the Constitutional Court of Ukraine drew attention to its statement of May 10, 2007.

Of particular interest to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, some politicians and people's deputies of Ukraine became manifest after the recent Court decisions, particularly on July 7, 2009 in the case of compliance with the Constitution Law of Ukraine "On amending some laws of Ukraine on the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, features the proceedings in the constitutional treatment and prevention of abuse of the constitutional right to representation. "They deliberately resorted to a misrepresentation of fact these decisions of the Constitutional Court and relevant legislation, the misinformed public. In it could not pay attention. However, such statements sound nezavualovani disrespect and threats to the Court as a whole and of individual judges. Apply for recognition of the Court thought "illegitimate", "politicized", "semi", "illegal", with signs of degradation, professional, operating outside the legal field, so that it becomes "dangerous to the state" regarding the need to "rotation the Court before the presidential election, the withdrawal "of individual judges and the violation of disciplinary cases against them, alleging the alleged illegal appointment of individual judges, proposed to evaluate the Constitutional Court for sending him the constitutional court.

However, these policies recognize that such actions can lead to paralysis of a single state in the body of constitutional justice. Of particular concern is that such statements make the deputies of Ukraine and high-ranking official and publicly in Parliament of Ukraine, told the media .

It should be noted that the matter is not limited to public statements. Yes, August 20, 2009 the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine introduced the draft resolution on the parliamentary hearings on "Status and prospects of development of constitutional justice in Ukraine, which, inter alia, requested to instruct the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to prepare and submit to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine the necessary analytical information on the status of constitutional justice. Does not this mean that the commission of the Government of Ukraine should check the work of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine for consideration of specific cases and make decisions? Is this an attempt of direct interference in the Constitutional Court? Although the project was later withdrawn, the fact of making it to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine shows deputies of Ukraine attempts to interfere in the activities of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.

The Constitutional Court calls to refrain from statements and estimates that are inherently constitute interference in its activities, and reiterates the necessity to respect the Constitution and laws of Ukraine, pursuant to paragraph 14 of resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly on April 19, 2007, stating that "Government only body of constitutional justice - the Constitutional Court of Ukraine - should be guaranteed and respected. Тиск у будь-якій формі на суддів є недопустимим…“. Pressure in any form for the judges is intolerable ....

Constitutional Court of Ukraine assures society that his work is based on the principles of legality, independence, collegiality, equality of the judges, transparency and full and comprehensive review of cases and the reasonableness of its decisions, as provided in Article 4 of the Law of Ukraine "On the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.

9 вересня 2009 року September 9, 2009

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ukraine Votes: 45% Voter Turnout lowest on record

Election Preliminary Analysis//Yushchenko the biggest loser

Yushchenko's last gasp: a threat to public health