NGOs call on the Office of the President and the Servant of the People political party to stop putting pressure on the Constitutional Court, demanding illegal actions, and wait for vacancies in the Constitutional Court, where newly appointed judges Hryshchuk and Petryshyn can be sworn in legally.

On December 16, the official website of the Servant of the People political party published a  statement by Olena Moshenets, Deputy Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Anti-Corruption Policy and a member of the party, commenting on information that the Venice Commission supported the Constitutional Court’s decision not to swear in the judges, appointed by the President of Ukraine for non-existent vacancies.

The ruling party MP actually accused the Constitutional Court of refusing to swear in the newly appointed judges of the Constitutional Court, Oksana Hryshchuk and Oleksandr Petryshyn. She presented this as the opposition of the Constitutional Court to overcome the constitutional crisis. As an argument, the politician used the thesis about the sanctions imposed on Tupitsky by the United States as “a clear signal that any attempt to break the reforms in Ukraine will receive a tough response.” Simultaneously with Moshenets’ statement, blogs with similar, identical messages were published by bloggers, who are included in the pool of cooperation with the President’s Office, according to the Ukrainian media. Earlier, the head of the President’s Office, Andriy Yermak, spoke with the same theses on one of the broadcasts.

No matter how we treat Tupitsky and Kasminin, their term will expire only in May and September 2022, respectively. Bringing judges to the oath of office means deepening the already massive crisis around the Constitutional Court.

The way out of the crisis will be the adoption of a draft law with a new competition procedure and the appointment of all new judges of the Constitutional Court only in accordance with it.

As we see an information campaign aimed at illegally forcing the newly appointed Constitutional Court judges to swear in the newly appointed Constitutional Court judges Hryshchuk and Petryshyn, we call on the Office of the President, the ruling party, and the government’s social media repeaters to end pressure on Constitutional Court judges.

The actions of the judges of the Constitutional Court are absolutely lawful, as:

1. The presidential decree on the abolition of decrees appointing Oleksandr Tupytsky and Oleksandr Kasminin is legally null and void. According to the Constitution of Ukraine, the President has no authority to dismiss judges of the Constitutional Court.
2. Society has reasonable doubts about the integrity of Oleksandr Tupytsky and some other judges of the Constitutional Court. This is confirmed by the US sanctions imposed   on the Tupytsky for “significant acts of corruption, namely receiving a bribe in cash while in office in the judiciary of Ukraine.” However, according to the Ukrainian Constitution, only judges of the Constitutional Court can dismiss judges of the Constitutional Court. This means that Oleksandr Tupytsky and Oleksandr Kasminin still remain judges of the Constitutional Court.
3. The term of office of Oleksandr Tupytsky expires in five months – in May 2022, and for Oleksandr Kasminin – in September 2022. Thus, a vacancy will be vacated in May, for which the Constitutional Court will be able to legally swear in one of the two judges appointed by the President of the Constitutional Court. The same opinion is confirmed by the Venice Commission in the  Synopsis of December 13, 2021.
4. Appointment of new judges of the Constitutional Court in the absence of relevant vacancies in the Constitutional Court under the President’s quota undermines the legitimacy of the Constitutional Court. It creates a situation where 8 judges will be appointed to 6 positions under the President’s quota. In this case, the work of the Constitutional Court will be completely blocked.
5. For a year now, the ruling party and the President’s Office have been ignoring the  Venice Commission’s conclusion on overcoming the constitutional crisis. Bill №4533, despite the assurances of the President’s representative in the Constitutional Court Fedor Venislavsky, still does not contain such a procedure.

That is why we call on the President and the Servant of the People political party:

1. To stop trying to put pressure on the Constitutional Court and wait for vacancies to appear legally in it, as recommended by the Venice Commission;
2. To reform the selection procedure for the Constitutional Court by introducing into the draft law №4533 provisions on a single competitive procedure for the selection of judges of the Constitutional Court.

Signatories:

DEJURE Foundation

Center for Policy and Legal Reforms

Reanimation Package of Reforms Coalition

All-Ukrainian Association “Avtomaidan”

Anti-Corruption Center

The Centre of United Actions

StateWatch

Centre for Economic Strategy

CHESNO Movement

Institute Respublica

Anti-corruption Research and Education Center (ACREC)

Anti-corruption Headquarters

Center for Public Monitoring and Research

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