Maryna Stavniychuk: Liquidation of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine is a direct encroachment on the constitutional order of Ukraine

Blocking of the decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine may lead to the delegitimization of the Constitution and the State on the whole. This was stated by the Head of the Rule of Law Committee at the UNBA, Marуna Stavniychuk, on the air of the Savik Shuster`s show "Freedom of Speech".

In such way the attorney commented on the statements of some representatives of political forces and higher state authorities concerning non-compliance with the decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, which declared a number of provisions of the Law of Ukraine "On Prevention of Corruption" and the Criminal Code of Ukraine as unconstitutional.

Marуna Stavniychuk explained that the Constitutional Court`s decision does not close registers or cancel declarations, but it points to the unconstitutionality of certain provisions, in particular, the right of the National Agency for Prevention of Corruption to exercise control functions that have a direct impact on the judges and judicial system, including the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.

The Head of the Rule of Law Committee at the UNBA believes that speculations of certain experts, activists, politicians, and government officials, including the President's entourage, are deliberate provocations that could lead to the liquidation of the Constitutional Court.

"I want to remind you about the situation in 2019. There was an article about illicit enrichment. The Constitutional Court said that this article does not correspond to the principle of the rule of law and has no legal certainty. The Constitutional Court was highly criticized. The Head of the Court, Shevchuk, explained to both the public and the parliament the inconsistency of this article with the norms of the Constitution. The parliament understood, made changes and that was the end of it" - Maryna Stavniychuk reminded.

The attorney stressed that the Constitutional Court of Ukraine is the only independent body of constitutional jurisdiction in the state, its decisions are binding, and they are not subject to appeal, especially by the laws of Ukraine.

The Head of the UNBA Committee is convinced that: "If today we allow the liquidation of the Constitutional Court unconstitutionally, which the President of Ukraine proposes based on proposals made to him, and in the way that directly contradicts the Constitution of Ukraine, we will have a fully delegitimized state and a delegitimized Constitution. We will no longer have anything to fight for - there will be no state, there will be no Constitution. This is a direct encroachment on the constitutional order”.

As was stated by Maryna Stavniychuk, the best way to get out of this situation is to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the entire system of anti-corruption authorities in Ukraine and bring anti-corruption legislation in line with the Constitution.

“It is necessary to comprehensively and systematically analyze the state of the fight against corruption in Ukraine, starting from the quality of the anti-corruption legislation system, ending with the work of the National Agency for Prevention of Corruption and the declaration system. After that, based on legislation, practice, experience, understanding, it would be possible to work out in a calm mode and bring the legislation on corruption into line with the Constitution of Ukraine, ” - Maryna Stavniychuk said.