October 5, 2022
On October 5, 2022, the Second Senate of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine at the public part of the plenary session, in the form of written proceedings, deliberated the case upon the constitutional complaint of Olha Didenko regarding the conformity of the provisions of Article 142.3 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges” dated June 2, 2016 No. 1402-VIII as amended (hereinafter referred to as “Law No. 1402”) with the Constitution of Ukraine.
As noted by Judge-Rapporteur Ihor Slidenko, the applicant appealed to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine with a request to examine compliance of the contested provisions of the Law with Articles 8.1, 8.2, 21, 22.3, 24.1 24.2, 126.1, 151-2, and 152.2 of the Constitution of Ukraine.
According to Article 142.3 of the Law No. 1402, a monthly lifetime allowance is paid to a retired judge in the amount of 50 percent of the judicial remuneration of a judge who works in the relevant position; for each full year of work as a judge for more than 20 years, the amount of the monthly lifetime allowance increases by two percent of the judge's allowance.
According to O. Didenko, the disputed provisions of Law No. 1402 regarding the procedure for calculating the monthly lifetime allowance “by their very nature significantly violate the legislatively defined guarantees of the independence of judges”, that is, the corresponding guarantees established by the Law of Ukraine “On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges” dated July 7, 2010 No. 2453-VI as amended (Law No. 2453), in particular, “narrow the level of material support and social protection of retired judges.”
The subject of the right to constitutional complaint notes that “the reduction by the legislative body upon the adoption of the new Law No. 1402 of the amount of the monthly lifetime allowance of a retired judge with 20 years of experience as a judge from 80 to 50 percent of the judicial remuneration of a judge who works in the relevant position, and the cancellation of the condition of monthly lifetime allowance payment - without a limit on the maximum amount, significantly reduces the level of financial support of a retired judge which I have already received both as of September 30, 2016 (the time of the previous Law No. 2453 becoming ineffective), and as of February 18, 2020 (recognition of the provisions as unconstitutional Clause 25 of Chapter XII “Final and Transitional Provisions” of Law No. 1402).
Therefore, in her opinion, this is an encroachment on the guarantee of the independence of a judge, a component of which is the appropriate level of material support, including for retired judges, and a prerequisite for influencing both the judge and the judiciary as a whole, as it contradicts the constitutional requirement to consistently ensure an independent justice (Article 126.1 of the Constitution of Ukraine)”.
The judge-rapporteur informed that the case file includes the opinion of the Legal Department of the Court Secretariat regarding this constitutional complaint. There are also similar cases in the proceedings of the Second Senate, in which there are relevant opinions, delivered by state and academic institutions, establishments of higher education on the issues raised in constitutional complaints.
After studying the case materials in the public part of the plenary session, the Court proceeded to the in-camera part for a decision.
The Authorised Representative of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Head of the Department of Relations with Justice Bodies of the Apparatus of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Arkadii Laptiiev attended the session.
The public part of the plenary session is available on the official website of the Court at: https://ccu.gov.ua/kategoriya/2022.
