The Constitutional Court wants to consider constitutional complaints of citizens

Mykola Selivon, the head of the Constitutional Court, believes that it should be advisable to empower the Constitutional Court to consider the constitutional complaints of citizens. He told this at a press conference. According to his words, the Court receives about 3000 appeals every year, and 90% of them may be qualified as constitutional complaints.

Selivon said that the complaints of citizens against the normative acts of ministries, the Cabinet of Ministers and the Supreme Rada might be regarded as constitutional ones. He reckons that the complaints against court decisions may not be considered as constitutional complaints.

Selivon also said that the consideration of constitutional complaints by the Constitutional Court would increase the level of the protection of human rights and freedoms.

According to the Constitution, the Constitutional Court solves the questions concerning the correspondence of laws and other legal acts of the Supreme Rada, President, Cabinet of Ministers and the Supreme Rada of the Crimea with the Constitution.

These questions are considered after the appeal of the President or not less than 40 MPs, as well as of the Supreme Court, ombudsperson or the Supreme Rada of the Crimea.

The Constitutional Court also gives the official interpretation of the Constitution and Ukrainian laws.

http://maidan.org.ua/n/news/1054629180 

Commentary:

In Russia, for example, citizens (and even apartides) have (and always had) the right to turn with the complaints to the Constitutional Court, and some of them use this right successfully.

Yet, the Ukrainian citizens, in their turn, may not hand such complaints to our native Constitutional Court. This was a decision of our legislators. One may only guess what was the reason of this sudden brainwave of the acolytes of our Constitutional Themis and hope that this praiseworthy impulse will be adequately legitimated.

Roman Romanov