Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine (CCU) Oleksandr Tupytsky says he does not rule out that the CCU may declare the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) unconstitutional.
"The issue of the Anti-Corruption Court... I've heard nothing unconstitutional [at the CCU hearings on this case], but the question is whether this is a special or specialized court. If it's a special court, it's unconstitutional, but if it's a specialized one, it is constitutional," he told a briefing on October 30, according to an UNIAN correspondent.
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In July 2020, 49 MPs appealed to the Constitutional Court with a motion to recognize unconstitutional the law on the High Anti-Corruption Court of June 7, 2018, No. 2447-VIII.
The MPs consider the law unconstitutional in general.
"The key provisions of this legal act (regarding the status, the High Anti-Corruption Court's powers, the number of its judges, requirements for candidates for judicial appointment, competition procedures, etc.) have clear (obvious) signs of non-compliance with the Basic Law, without which law No. 2447 cannot be applied at all," reads the MP's motion.
On September 16, the Constitutional Court ruled unconstitutional certain provisions of the law on the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine.
On July 28, the CCU declared unconstitutional the presidential decree of April 16, 2015 on the appointment of Artem Sytnyk as NABU Director.
On October 27, the CCU, on the motion of 47 legislators, handed down a judgment rescinding Article 366-1 of the Criminal Code, which provides for liability for inaccurate asset declaration by government officials. Also, the CCU recognized the provisions of the laws on e-declarations' vetting as unconstitutional and stripped the relevant watchdog, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention of powers to vet declarations and identify conflicts of interest.
The CCU deprived the NACP of access to state registers required for vetting declarations of candidates for government offices, thus blocking the appointment of officials, including those who won in the latest local elections across Ukraine.
The NABU said that as a result of the CCU move, all criminal cases probing inaccurate asset declaration shall be closed, while officials exposed for abuse will avoid responsibility.
On October 28, pursuant to the CCU ruling, the NACP shut down public access to the Unified State Register of Asset Declarations, which was restored overnight Friday in line with the Cabinet decision following public outrage.
Thousands are rallying outside CCU HQ in Kyiv on Friday against the anti-corruption reform rollback.
