The Constitutional Court of Ukraine has declared unconstitutional the limitation of the maximum size of lifetime allowance for retired judges at UAH 10,740.

According to an Interfax-Ukraine reporter, the court officially announced its ruling at a sitting on Friday.

At the instance of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, the Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional provisions of Part 3, paragraphs 1, 2, 4, 6 of Part 5, Article 141 of the law of Ukraine on the judicial system and the status of judges dated July 7, 2010 and Item 5, Section 3 of the final clauses of the law of Ukraine amending some laws of Ukraine on pension provision dated March 2, 2015 regarding the limitation of lifetime allowance for retired judges.

As reported, on January 22, 2016, the Supreme Court of Ukraine decided to appeal to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine with a request to declare unconstitutional paragraphs 1, 2, 4, 6, Part 5, Article 141 of the law of Ukraine on the judicial system and the status of judges, according to which people, who occupy positions and work under conditions envisaged by the law on public service and prosecutor's office, will not obtain monthly lifetime allowance.

In addition, according to Article 141 of the law, from January 1, 2017, the payment of monthly lifetime allowance is suspended for the period of work on the positions entitled to it and the right to assignment of pensions is also suspended. During this period, pension should be paid in line with general state pension insurance regulations.

The abovementioned provisions of the law also say that the maximum size of monthly lifetime allowance for retired judges cannot exceed UAH 10,740 taking into account all bonuses and promotions.

The Supreme Court explained its appeal by the fact that these provisions of the law significantly limit and partially cancel the constitutional guarantees of independent judges, which is a part of the legal status.

The Constitutional Court started the consideration of the Supreme Court's appeal on February 23, 2016.