A break has been announced in the Constitutional Court's consideration of the case on the official interpretation of certain provisions of Articles 13 and 14 of the Constitution of Ukraine (regarding farmland).
That's according to the CCU press service.
"Today, at a closed-door part of the plenary session, the Constitutional Court considered the case on the constitutional submission of 46 lawmakers regarding the official interpretation of the provisions of the first sentence of Article 13 Part 1 and Article 14 Part 1 of the Constitution of Ukraine. A break was announced in the case consideration due to the lack of quorum," the statement reads.
Read alsoEU calls on Ukraine to restore e-declaration of assets, work of anti-graft bodiesAt the same time, the Constitutional Court notes that the case is not about land reform, but about the interpretation of the "land-related" articles of the Constitution.
"We draw your attention to the fact that today only the case on the interpretation of certain provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine was considered, not the issue of land reform," the court added.
Background
On November 5, judges of the Constitutional Court Vasyl Lemak, Viktor Kolesnik, and Oleh Pervomaisky skipped the evening plenary session.
An UNIAN source claimed they had not attended the session to disrupt consideration of the case on the interpretation of Articles 13 and 14 of the Constitution, which define land and mineral resources as property of the Ukrainian people.
However, according to the source, the absence of Pervomaisky and Lemak could imply more. "These are the judges under the influence of former chairman of the Constitutional Court Stanislav Shevchuk, who is now making efforts to return to the Constitutional Court and take the helm," the source suggested.
At the same time, a source told Novoye Vremya that four judges decided to suspend their work in the CCU until the situation around it normalizes in a legitimate way. Besides the said three judges, the source named Deputy CCU Chair Serhiy Holovatyi.
President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier said he believes the Constitutional Court could reverse the land market reform after a controversial move to roll back the anti-corruption reform. The latest ruling has sparked a row and a wave of criticism on the part of Ukraine's foreign partners, while Zelensky tabled in Parliament a bill to sack all CCU judges before the relevant bodies appoint new ones.
