Constitutional Court issues positive opinion on Constituational amendments in part of the judicial system / Photo from UNIAN
The Constitutional Court of Ukraine has ruled that amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine in part related to the judicial system meet the requirements of Articles 157 and 158 of the Fundamental Law.
According to those articles, the Constitution of Ukraine cannot be changed, if amendments foresee the abolition or restriction of rights and freedoms of citizens, or if they are aimed at eliminating the independence or violating the territorial integrity of Ukraine; the Constitution cannot be amended in wartime or a state of emergency; a draft law to amend the Constitution of Ukraine, which has been considered by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, may be submitted to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine no sooner than one year after the date when a decision regarding the draft law has been issued; the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is not able to amend twice the same provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine during the term of its authority.
The ruling was published on Friday, January 22, 2016.
As UNIAN reported earlier, based on the decision dated December 22, 2015 the Verkhovna Rada addressed the Constitutional Court with a request to issue an opinion on the conformity of the draft law on amendments to the Constitution in the part related to the judicial (No. 3524), submitted by the Ukrainian president for urgent consideration, to the requirements of Articles 157 and 158 of the Fundamental Law.
On January 14, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko expressed hope that the Ukrainian parliament would vote in the first reading for changes to the Constitution in terms of justice by February 2.