The Verkhovna Rada will register a draft law proposing to define the procedure of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine not by regulation, but by law.
This was reported by the deputy head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Legal Policy Olga Sovgyria (Servant of the People faction).
"We are registering the draft law "On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine" On the Constitutional Court of Ukraine" (regarding the order of consideration of the Constitutional Court)," she wrote on her Facebook page.
The deputy explained that the draft law proposes to establish that the procedure of activity of the Central Committee is determined by law (and not by the Regulation of the Central Committee as an internal act).
"At the same time, we are starting work on the draft law "On constitutional production" (working title). Accordingly, from the moment of the adoption of the law until the adoption of the law "On constitutional production", the Constitutional Court will not be able to carry out the production," Sovgyria noted.
In addition, it is proposed to increase the number of votes of judges necessary for decision-making from 10 to 12 in the Grand Chamber and up to six in the Senates of the Central Committee (since the Senates of the Central Committee can also declare the law unconstitutional on constitutional complaints), the deputy emphasized.
As reported, on October 27, 2020, the Constitutional Court adopted a high-profile decision, declaring unconstitutional a number of provisions of the Law of Ukraine "On Prevention of Corruption" and criminal liability for declaring false information. In its decision, the court summarizes that the legislator "did not observe the principles of justice and proportionality as elements of the principle of the rule of law", and thus Article 366-1 (declaration of false information) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine contradicts Part 1 of Article 8 of the Basic Law of Ukraine.
In this regard, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi initiated an urgent meeting of the National Security and Defense Council (NSC) on the evening of October 29. Following the results of the meeting of the National Security Council, an emergency meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine was convened in the Office of the President. The Cabinet of Ministers at an extraordinary meeting in compliance with the decision of the National Security Council adopted an order, which obliged the National People's Committee to immediately restore citizens' access to the register of officials' declarations and provide a mechanism for their special verification. On November 30, NAPK resumed the work of the Unified State Register of Electronic Declarations.
On October 29, Zelensky introduced the draft law "On restoration of public trust in constitutional judicial proceedings" to the parliament, according to which the powers of the members of the Constitutional Court, which made the decision on October 27, are terminated. The President proposes to recognize this decision of the Constitutional Court as "null (which does not create legal consequences) as adopted by the judges of the Constitutional Court in the conditions of a real conflict of interests." In the draft law, the head of state also proposed to return the wording of the law "On Prevention of Corruption" and the Criminal Code, which were in effect before the decision of the Constitutional Court on October 27.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky also called on the current members of the Constitutional Court to resign, noting that the judges who did not support the controversial decision of October 27 could once again become judges of the renewed Constitutional Court.
On November 3, a draft law was registered in the Verkhovna Rada, which proposes to establish that the Constitutional Court is authorized to carry out constitutional proceedings, if it includes at least 17 judges of the Constitutional Court who have received powers. According to the current legislation, the Constitutional Court is authorized to carry out constitutional proceedings if at least 12 judges are present in its composition.
47 people's deputies of the "Servant of the People" and "Voice" factions, including Yurchyshyn and deputy head of the "Servant of the People" faction Alexander Korniyenko, are identified as the initiators of the bill.
On November 4, people's deputies submitted a statement to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine calling on judges to voluntarily surrender their powers. As reported on the "Servant of the People" party's Facebook page, the statement was signed by 226 people's deputies. The statement concerns not all judges, but only 11 who supported the scandalous decision to cancel the anti-corruption reform and, in particular, electronic declaration.
