The Constitutional Court of Ukraine has recognized as unconstitutional a bill drawn up by opposition lawmakers proposing amendments be made to the Constitution to deprive the president and judges of their immunity from prosecution.
At the same time, the court recognized as constitutional the provision of the bill proposing the removal of immunity from members of parliament.
The Constitutional Court made this ruling on July 10 and announced it on July 11.
The court ruling reads that the Constitutional Court has examined similar bills on amendments to Parts 1, 3 of Article 80 regarding deputy immunity and Part 1 of Article 105 regarding immunity of the president of Ukraine earlier.
"As of the moment of consideration of the bill, the Constitutional Court has no reason to change its position on the issue," reads the ruling.
In particular, the document reads that court rulings dated June 27, 2000, September 10, 2008, and April 1, 2010 declared that proposals to strip people's deputies of immunity are in line with relevant provisions of Article 157 of the constitution, while proposals on depriving the president of immunity were declared unconstitutional.
The Constitutional Court also stated that immunity of judges is "not for their personal benefit."
"The cancellation of a guarantee of justice such as the immunity of judges, may result in restrictions on the right to legal defense guaranteed by Article 55 of the Constitution of Ukraine," reads the ruling.
As for the question of the differences in the guarantees of immunity of the president, judges, and people's deputies, the reporting judge in the case, Andriy Stryzhak, said that the difference is in "the degree of authority."
As reported, on June 20 the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament sent to the Constitutional Court a bill drafted by the opposition lawmakers on amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine related to immunity of people's deputies, the president, and judges.
The author of the bill proposed to remove Part 1 of Article 80, which "guarantees deputy immunity to people's deputies of Ukraine," as well as cancel Part 3 of the same article, according to which people's deputies cannot be drawn to criminal responsibility, detained or arrested without the consent of the Verkhovna Rada.
The bill also proposes to cancel Part 1 of Article 105 of the constitution, according to which "the president of Ukraine has a right to immunity while in power."
The bill also suggests removing from the constitution Part 1 of Article 126, which "guarantees immunity to judges," as well as cancelling Part 3 of the article, according to which "a judge cannot be detained or arrested before the conviction by court without consent of the Verkhovna Rada."
The opposition also proposed to remove the word "immunity" from Article 149, according to which "independence and immunity are guaranteed to judges of the Constitutional Court."
The parliamentary majority also submitted a bill on the cancellation of deputy immunity.
On July 5, the parliamentary majority, with 236 votes, approved the decision to send to the Constitutional Court the bill on amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine that proposed to restrict only the immunity of people's deputies. The opposition did not take part in the vote.
The president's representative in the Verkhovna Rada, Yuriy Mirochnychenko, said that criminal cases might be opened and investigated against people's deputies, while they may be detained or imprisoned only as soon as a court ruling takes effect.
Thus, the immunity, or inviolability, will be significantly restricted, and in fact any deputy could undergo all legal proceedings [related to responsibility for breaking the law]," he said.
Miroshnychenko added that the bill guarantees freedom of political activities and freedom of criticism for deputies.
The Regions Party hopes that the bill will be passed in September.
