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The Verkhovna Rada got bogged down in the Constitutional Court problem, photo: Izim Kaumbaev, “Strana”
The Presidency’s plan to disperse the Constitutional Court (CC), which stopped the electronic declaration, has failed.
We are no longer talking about voting on President Volodymyr Zelensky’s corresponding bill.
The project registered by the pro-presidential deputies to increase the quorum in the Constitutional Court from 12 to 17 judges in order to block the work of the court, where there are now only 15 judges, did not even reach the stage of consideration in the parliamentary commission .
It is true that the KSU does not hold sessions anyway because four judges refused to participate in them and it is impossible to gather a quorum. According to the general opinion, Bankovaia tried to do so.
The bill by a group of deputies headed by President Dmitry Razumkov on the renewal of articles on electronic declaration and illegal enrichment also did not reach the parliament’s agenda. CS supporters reboot and their opponents are unhappy with this state of affairs, but neither side has the strength to change it yet.
How the events will unfold: read in the material “Strana”.
Zelensky’s failed blitzkrieg
By the end of the week, it became clear that President Zelensky’s plan with Rada’s hands to disperse the Constitutional Court, which had blocked the work of the anti-corruption vertical, would not come true. Even many deputies from the pro-presidential “Servidores del Pueblo” (SN) faction refused to vote for him, and were unaffected by Ze’s fierce television statements and speeches, or by his arrival at the faction meeting earlier. of week. Other factions fought openly, calling the project unconstitutional and an attempted coup.
The project did not even reach the parliamentary committee and it seems that it will be buried in the bowels of the Rada. “There is no point in even discussing (their perspectives – Ed.) I finally lost my potential,” predicted Yaroslav Zheleznyak, the deputy head of the Golos faction, on his Telegram channel.
“The presidential blitzkrieg failed. Even a solid majority mono-majority did not dare to vote, seeing the unconstitutionality of the project. It was compared with the laws” January 16, 2014 “(the so-called dictatorial laws passed with violations of the procedure voting – Ed.) The faction saw that the president made parliament extreme, though he could, for example, simultaneously withdraw his quota of six Constitutional Court judges, overturning the decrees on their appointment. Zelensky was suspected of a double As a result, many MPs, apparently willing to vote, simply imitated the support, secretly hoping that it will not be put to the vote, “says political analyst Ruslan Bortnik.
Razumkov maneuver
In the context of the failed prospects of the presidential bill, the deputies of the Servant of the People began to look for another solution.
First, they wrote a letter asking the judges, who voted in favor of the scandalous decision, to voluntarily resign. The SN affirms that the declaration was signed by 226 deputies. It is true that so far only the Constitutional Court judge, Igor Slidenko, said he had resigned, noting that he had done so under pressure from the OP in early October (that is, long before all the events). In any case, the Constitutional Court itself must vote for the judge to leave.
And there is no indication that other judges are willing to follow Slidenko’s lead, much less approve of such an initiative.
Second, together with allies of the “Golos” faction and the “Doverie” parliamentary group, they presented a bill №4311 to increase the quorum of the Constitutional Court from 12 to 17 judges. In this case, the court’s work would probably have stopped. Because now the number of judges is 15. Apart from two vacancies in the Rada, one more of the six congresses of judges in Ukraine has not been filled.
But this bill has yet to reach its main legal committee. It is planned to be considered at a committee meeting in a week, when the Rada will once again participate in the plenary work.
It is difficult to say what the prospects are for project 4311 in the Rada. On the one hand, the authorship of the deputies of SN and Golos and the deputies of Doverie allows us to say that these parliamentary associations will vote for the project. At the same time, the lobby to keep the CC in its current composition remains in place. And therefore, the support of the SN will be incomplete, and even taking into account the “Voice” and the “Trust”, there may not be enough votes. Furthermore, Poroshenko is also skeptical about this bill.
Finally, thirdly, another bill has appeared in the Rada – №4304, which returns everything in electronic returns. It is called the Razumkov project in honor of the initiator, although it was signed by deputies from various factions. And their chances looked good (in fact, everyone was ready to vote, except the HLE). Thursday was even put on the agenda, but suddenly “Servant of the People” deputy Alexander Dubinsky presented an alternative draft and the “Razumkov draft” was postponed to the next plenary week until the committee considers Dubinsky’s draft.
Dubinsky is one of the most famous defenders of the KSU and its decisions in the Rada.
But, as they say on the sidelines, he doesn’t just want to slow down the advancement of the speaker’s bill.
The main problem with this document comes from the Office of the President, where they reacted extremely jealously to Razumkov’s success in mobilizing votes. After all, the presidential project is really buried, and in this context an increasingly independent speaker looks like a winner and Zelensky a loser (if Razumkov’s project is adopted).
And, therefore, it is not a fact that the “servants of the people” are going to find votes for him.
However, there is one more problem, which is true, no one will say officially.
“The fact is that none of the deputies, officials and politicians need the electronic declaration in its current form. Nobody wants to be stopped by the West through the anti-corruption organizations. Therefore, they are all making a lot of noise, outraged, the president is By presenting bills, the deputies are presenting bills, but the matter is not moving. Because the sabotage is simply happening, and everything that happens is just a show for the western partners, “said one of the people’s deputies.
It is true that such sabotage can make the West run out of patience and start a great showdown. Even with the Office of the President. How Bankovaya and the deputies will come out of this situation remains the main intrigue of the next few weeks.
Not scattered, but blocked
If there is no progress in the dispersal of the Constitutional Court and the restitution of the abolished norms of anti-corruption legislation, then there is some progress in the other direction of the fight against the Constitutional Court.
We are talking about blocking the work of the Constitutional Court so that it does not make new decisions that have not been agreed upon with the Presidency.
The lockdown came after four judges Sergey Golovaty, Oleg Pervomaisky, Viktor Kolesnik and Vasily Lemak (the latter three are considered close to former head of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Stanislav Shevchuk, whom we will talk about below), who did not vote for him. acknowledgment of unconstitutional electronic declarations, they refused to participate. in meetings. And without them, 11 judges are not enough for a quorum (12 are needed).
The formal reason for the judges’ refusal to participate in the hearings is the earlier promulgation of the draft decision on the law on the sale of land by Judge Sergei Sas, but the real reason is Bankova’s “request”.
However, according to the source, Judge Golovaty could well return to the hearings, if arguments are found in his favor. “This is a person with a very flexible position,” says the source in the Constitutional Court.
It is also curious that the Rada today did not vote for the judges of the Constitutional Court. Furthermore, according to “Strana”, this happened with the knowledge of the Office of the Presidency, which fears that the new judges will not support the blocking of the work of the KSU (you can read more about this here).
The Shevchuk factor
Finally, there is another intrigue with former KSU director Stanislav Shevchuk.
The Attorney General’s Office interrogated him yesterday as a victim in the case of pressure on him by other magistrates of the Constitutional Court, which led to his resignation.
This is a case under article 344 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (interference in the activities of a statesman), which was initiated by the RRB in July 2019.
Investigators investigated the events that took place on May 14, when Shevchuk was removed from Shevchuk by decision of the Constitutional Court judges and was automatically removed from his post as head of the court.
“RRB investigators are conducting a pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings into the fact that the judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine used their official position to exert pressure on the Head of the Constitutional Court, in order to bring the latter to disciplinary responsibility and in order to prevent him from fulfilling his official duties, “” in the GBR.
However, the case was not really investigated and was closed in April 2020. But after the start of the current scandal with the KSU, it was recalled and by decision of the Attorney General’s Office the investigation was resumed. Yesterday Shevchuk was questioned at the Attorney General’s Office, after which the question of where to send the case for investigation, to the Office of State Security or to the National Anti-Corruption Office of Ukraine (NABU), will be decided.
“If the investigation of the case, however, does in fact begin, then the current president of the Constitutional Court (Alexander) Tupitsky, as well as several judges close to him, whom Shevchuk calls the organizers of the coup in court on May 14, 2019, they may become a possible suspect “, comments on the Telegram channel” Politics of the Country “.
According to Strana sources, the President’s Office is considering reinstating Shevchuk as head of the court as one of the options to combat the current composition of the Constitutional Court. Although Shevchuk lost the appeal in the Supreme Court for his reinstatement, there are possibilities to implement this plan of the OP.
In the fall of 2019, the Kiev District Court reinstated Shevchuk in office. The appeal later canceled this decision. However, in December last year, the Constitutional Court voted to reinstate Shevchuk as head of the court. And 9 judges voted in favor. Tupitsky announced that the decision should be made by 12 votes and therefore postponed as not adopted. But Shevchuk’s team has a different point of view on this issue. And they believe that 9 votes are enough to restore.
In the context of the current legal war, this can also be used as an argument for opponents of the Constitutional Court (the same Office of the President) to declare that in fact the head of the court is Shevchuk and not Tupitsky. Which will further block the work of the court.
