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Constitutional Court of Ukraine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Constitutional Court of Ukraine (Ukrainian: Конституційний Суд України) is the only 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 initiated its activity on October 18, 1996. The first Court ruling was made on May 13, 1997.
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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.
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, Ivan Dombrovskyy, was elected on September 19, 2006.
- President's quota:
- Volodymyr Ivashchenko (Володимир Іванович Іващенко) since March, 2001;
- Valeriy Pshenychnyy (Валерій Григорович Пшеничний) since January, 2003;
- Syuzanna Stanik (Сюзанна Романівна Станік) since March 25, 2004;
- Volodymyr Kampo (Володимир Михайлович Кампо) since August 4, 2006;
- Dmytro Lelak (Дмитро Дмитрович Лелак) since August 4, 2006;
- Viktor Shyshkin (Віктор Іванович Шишкін) since August 4, 2006;
- 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;
- 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]
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.
