Supreme Court takes Cabinet of Ministers to court
The Head of the Supreme Court, Vasyl Onopenko has expressed outrage over the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers from 26 October to hand two premises of the Supreme Court on Pilip Orlyk St over to the High Specialized Court on Civil and Criminal Cases. The Supreme Court will be appealing against the decision to the Kyiv District Administrative Court.
Mr Onopenko stated at a press conference on Thursday that nobody had dissolved the Supreme Court and that the decision was not legally or tactically warranted, nor was it based on the Constitution and laws of Ukraine.
He asserted that both courts will be deprived of the possibility of properly exercising justice, and said that the decision had established conflict both between the two courts, and between the Supreme Court and the Cabinet of Ministers. “In my view this is the first sign that the State, as represented by the Cabinet of Ministers, is not planning to enforce the decision of the Venice Commission which recommended returning the Supreme Court its powers.”
Mr Onopenko pointed out that his Court had not been stripped of the right to seek the relevant assessment of this situation from European institutions.
He said that another less painful and contentious solution would be to delay the beginning of the work of the Higher Specialized Court in order to seek other premises for them.
From a report at UNIAN