Judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Oleksandr Petryshyn, at the invitation of the Mykolas Romeris University Law School, visited the Republic of Lithuania, where on October 20 this year he participated in the International Scientific and Practical Conference “Constitutional Control as the Fundamental Component of the Democratic State” held in Vilnius.
The event was organised by Mykolas Romeris University in cooperation with the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania, and the Lithuanian Bar Association on the 30th anniversary of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania.
The International Conference was opened by Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, Speaker of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania. During the ceremony, the President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, Gintaras Goda, Dean of the Law Faculty of Mykolas Romeris University, Lyra Jakulevičienė and other guests also addressed the participants with welcoming addresses.
Among the invitees were the judges of European constitutional courts and higher judicial bodies, parliament members, well-known scholars and practitioners in the field of constitutional law.
During the thematic sessions, the conference participants discussed the following issues: the historical background of constitutional review in the Republic of Lithuania, its peculiarities at the current stage of development of the national legal system, the relationship of constitutional review with the living constitution doctrine, the protection of human rights and freedoms in the context of constant challenges of the global legal order and the specifics of constitutional review in democratic states.
During the fourth thematic session, the CCU judge Oleksandr Petryshyn delivered a presentation on the topic “The Constitutional Court of Ukraine under martial law (militant democracy)”.
It should be noted that the conference organisers demonstrated great respect for the Constitutional Court of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people by asking Oleksandr Petrshyn to deliver his report in Ukrainian, despite the fact that the working languages of the Conference were Lithuanian and English.
In his speech, the judge described how the national constitutional review body performs its functions during martial law and thus participates in resisting the aggression of the russian federation. In particular, the judge informed about the Court’s decisions on the protection of a number of constitutional rights of citizens for the period from February 24, 2022, to the present day.
In addition, the speaker noted that along with developing its own practice of ensuring access to constitutional justice, the Court actively seeks to use international practice in this area. “In all its decisions, the Constitutional Court strives to incorporate the established approaches and standards of European constitutional courts, the main idea of which is to adhere to the rule of law and democratic principles of state power,” pointed out Oleksandr Petryshyn.
On behalf of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, Oleksandr Petryshyn congratulated his Lithuanian colleagues on the 30th anniversary of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania and expressed his gratitude to all those present for the opportunity to discuss the pressing issues of constitutional justice.
During his stay in Vilnius, CCU Judge Oleksandr Petryshyn also visited the Seimas and the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, where a meeting was held with some of the Court's judges. The judges discussed the activities of constitutional jurisdiction bodies in both states. In particular, they reviewed various aspects of the constitutional courts' activities, including their powers, structural organisation and current challenges they are facing with.
A separate issue for discussion was the development of bilateral cooperation between the constitutional courts of Ukraine and the Republic of Lithuania.
Oleksandr Petryshyn thanked the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania for its ongoing support and willingness to develop bilateral relations. “I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the Lithuanian people and all institutions of the Republic of Lithuania for their unwavering support of Ukraine and our people in times of difficult trials. I would like to thank my colleagues from the Constitutional Court of Lithuania for the fruitful and friendly cooperation and partnership between our institutions, which contributes to the implementation of joint projects in the field of constitutional justice,” the CCU judge concluded.
of the Republic of Lithuania G. Goda
