The Constitutional Court refused to swear in the President-appointed judges of the Constitutional Court

The Constitutional Court heeded the public’s appeals and ruled that it was impossible to swear in candidates Oleksandr Petryshyn and Oksana Hryshchuk, whom the President had appointed judges of the Constitutional Court on November 26.

The Constitutional Court issued a special ruling postponing the swearing-in of candidates due to the lack of vacancies for judges of the Constitutional Court under the President’s quota.

Why are there no vacancies in the Constitutional Court under the President’s quota?

Although society has serious doubts about the integrity of Tupytsky, Kasminin, as well as some other judges of the Constitutional Court, only the Constitutional Court itself can dismiss a judge of the Constitutional Court under the Constitution. Thus, the President’s decision to revoke the decrees appointing Tupytsky and Kasminin is unconstitutional, and therefore Tupytsky and Kasminin are de-jure still judges of the Constitutional Court. Tupytsky’s powers, by law, end in May 2022, and Kasminin’s in September 2022.

“Today’s decision of the Constitutional Court demonstrates an important thing. Firstly, it turns out that it is not a gone case with the Constitutional Court. Of course, the reform of the Constitutional Court is very important so that the next “Tupytskys” and “Kasminins” never get there again. But, as it turned out, in a matter of principle, the Constitutional Court is able to make fair decisions.”

– stated Mykhailo Zhernakov, the Chair of the Board of the DEJURE Foundation.

According to media reports, judges of the Constitutional Court, in particular, were guided by the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Xero Flor v. Poland, where the ECtHR found a violation of the human right to a fair trial due to the fact that a person who took part in the adoption of the decision of the Constitutional Tribunal of the Republic of Poland, was appointed by the Sejm as a member of the Constitutional Tribunal to a non-existent vacancy.

Previously, civil society has repeatedly called on Volodymyr Zelensky not to appoint judges of the Constitutional Court to non-existent vacancies.

On July 14, the Administrative Court of Cassation within the Supreme Court declared President Zelensky’s decree revoking the decree appointing Oleksandr Tupytsky a judge of the CCU illegal. The case is currently being appealed to the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court.