The Constitutional Court, represented by its legal department and secretariat, has no right to recognize decrees as "null and void" or "unconstitutional," Parliament's Envoy to the CCU, Olha Sovhyria, said on Tuesday.
"For me, as a lawyer, this is a wild situation where the legal department of the secretariat allows itself to recognize decrees or anything else as unconstitutional," Sovhyria told Ukraine 24.
President's Representative in the CCU, Fedir Venislavsky, shares this opinion, saying the comment by the court's legal department entails no legal consequences.
Read alsoConstitutional Court defies Zelensky's move to suspend chief judgeAlso, Venislavsky noted that Chief CCU Judge Oleksandr Tupytsky, suspended by President Volodymyr Zelensky for a period of two months could no longer convene any meetings at his office from the moment the presidential decree was published.
The envoy has underlined that the decree to suspend Tupytsky was a "forced measure, made by President of Ukraine to find truth in a pre-trial investigation of a criminal case," made on a motion by the Office of the Prosecutor General targeting a person suspected of committing a crime.
"This is done so that a person holding a certain position, especially such a responsible one as a CCU judge, and even more so – chairman of the Constitutional Court, could not interfere with the pre-trial investigation," he explained.
Background
On December 24, a summons was received by the Constitutional Court obliging chief judge Tupytsky to report to the Office of the Prosecutor General on December 28 to be charged with a criminal offense. The investigation says Tupytsky, acting out of mercenary motives and in personal interests, as well as in the interests of the former chairman of the High Economic Court, tampered with a witness in criminal proceedings through bribery to make sure the witness refuse to testify or deliver a false testimony. In addition, Tupytsky three times during 2018-2019 falsely testified to the Prosecutor General's Office, which came along with the artificially created evidence on the part of defense in criminal proceedings into the illegal seizure of assets of OJSC Zuivsky Energy-Mechanical Plant.
Tupytsky did not report to the Office of the Prosecutor General, so the suspicion notice was sent to him by mail.
On December 28, the Office of the Prosecutor General announced they would file a petition with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky to suspend Tupytsky.
On December 29, Zelensky signed a decree suspending Tupytsky for a period of two months.
