Ukrainian opposition demands dismissal of entire Constitutional Court
17:33 04/10/2010
KIEV, October 4 (RIA Novosti) - The Ukrainian opposition has demanded the dismissal of all judges in the country's constitutional court, a spokesman for the opposition Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc told journalists on Monday.
Mykola Tomenko criticized a recent Ukrainian Constitutional Court ruling that the 2004 constitutional reform, which transferred a significant amount of power from the president to parliament, was adopted in a breach of the constitution.
"This Constitutional Court has got itself into a mess and all its members should be dismissed," Tomenko said. "Let's elect at least one Constitutional Court which defends the Constitution."
A total of 252 Ukrainian lawmakers signed a petition to the court demanding the cancellation of the constitutional amendments, which came into effect in summer 2006, making the country a parliamentary-presidential republic.
The court said on October 1 that the bill passed on December 8, 2004, "does not correspond to the Ukrainian Constitution" because of "violations of constitutional procedures of its consideration and adoption."
