Delegation of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine participated in the events dedicated to the Day of Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania

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Delegation of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine participated in the events dedicated to the Day of Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania

 

 

On October 21 – 25, 2014 upon the invitation of the President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania Dainius Žalimas, Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Yurii Baulin and Judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Serhii Vdovichenko, Mykola Melnyk, Stanislav Shevchuk and Viktor Shyshkin paid ​​a visit to Vilnius to participate in the events on the occasion of the Day of Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania.

Within the programme Chairman of the Constitutional Court of UkraineYurii Baulin met with the President of the Constitutional Court of the Republicof Lithuania Mr. Dainius Žalimas. During the meeting the heads of the two courts exchanged their opinions on a number of current issues regarding the future cooperation, in particular, agreed on the need to simplify the framework of interaction to achieve more effective and fast results.

On the same day, Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine met with the Dean of the Faculty of Law of Vilnius University Mr. Tomas Davulis and Ukrainian students studying in this university.

On October 22, Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Yurii Baulin met with the President of theRepublic of Lithuania H.E. Ms. Dalia Grybauskaitė. The interlocutors discussed the issues concerning the reform of the legal system and strengthening the judiciary in Ukraine.

  During the meeting, the Head of the Lithuanian State noted that today the Constitutional Court of Ukraine plays an important role in strengthening the judicial system and the independence of the judiciary of the country. The Constitutional Court of Ukraine shall be the institution that defends the democracy of the country and institution that people trust in. The President of the Republic of Lithuania stressed that the reform of the legal system in Ukraine will help make it more transparent, strengthen democracy in the country, ensure the rule of law, improve the protection of human rights in the country and increase transparency of the judicial system. "Lithuania is ready to offer its expert assistance for Ukraine", said D. Grybauskaitė.

The meeting was also attended by the President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic ofLithuania Dainius Žalimas and Ambassador of Ukraine to the Republic of Lithuania Valerii Zhovtenko.

The same day, the Chairman of the Constitutional Court Yurii Baulin met with the Speaker of Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania Ms.Loreta Graužiniene. During the meeting they discussed the early parliamentary elections. The Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine noted that sufficient legal basis has been created for the early parliamentary elections in Ukraine and there are no any circumstances to declare the election results invalid. "In my opinion, the Parliament has taken into account the difficult situation existing in Ukraine, including annexation de facto of the Crimea, and military operations taking place on the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Therefore, the Parliament and the President declared that the elections will not take place on the area that is not controlled by the Ukrainian government. On the rest of the territory the elections will be held according to the rules stipulated by the law on parliamentary elections",  said Yurii Baulin.

On October 23, the Ukrainian delegation headed by the Chairman Baulin met with the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania Mr. Juozas Bernatonis who offered assistance on the part of the Republic of Lithuania in the implementation of European integration reforms.

The Minister of Justice noted that the Republic of Lithuania is ready to share the experience in the implementation of necessary reforms of the justice system. Lithuanian institutions have accumulated vast experience in the implementation of reforms during the process of accession to the European Union. In the opinion of Mr. Bernatonis, cooperation could be beneficial for Ukraine and its people.

In addition, during the visit, the delegation of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine met with the Deputy Chairman of Committee of Legal Affairs of the Seimas, former Judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania Mr. Stasys Šedbaras and members of the above Committee; Chairman of the Chamber on criminal cases of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Lithuania, former Judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania Mr. Jonas Prapiestis and Judge of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Lithuania, former Judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania Mr. Armanas Abramavičius.

On October 23, with the assistance of the EU project "Support to Justice Sector Reform in Ukraine", a round table “The Role of the Constitutional Court Ensuring the Independence of the Judiciary” took place at the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania.

The Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine addressed the participants of the round table with a welcoming speech, and emphasised the importance of the topic of the round table. "Currently, independence of the judiciary has gained an importance of a universal international standard for the effective protection of the rights and freedoms of citizens and the essential characteristics of the democratic state given its exceptionally high social value", saidYurii Baulin.

Yet, he stressed that cases of attacks on independence of the judiciary and interference in the courts activity have also affected judges of Ukraine who had repeatedly felt the urgency of judicial independence.

On this occasion, the Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine expressed his sincere appreciation and gratitude to the Judges of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania and the President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania Dainius Žalimas for their support in a difficult time for the country.

At the round table presentations were made by a former Judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania Mrs. TomaBirmontienė, Judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia Mrs. Sanita Osipova and Justice of the Constitutional Tribunal of the Republic of Poland Mr. Leon Kieres. Judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Stanislav Shevchuk also delivered a presentation.

Judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Serhii Vdovichenko, Mykola Melnyk and ViktorShyshkin actively participated in the round table discussions.

The round table was also attended by Judges of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania Mrs. Elvyra Baltutytė, Mr. Vytautas Greičius, Mr. Pranas Kutsonis, Mr. Vytas Milius, Mr. Egidijus Šileikis, former Judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania Mr. Vytautas Sinkevičius, Deputy President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia Mr. Uldis Ķinis, team Leader of the EU project "Support to Justice Sector Reform in Ukraine" Mr. Virgilijus Valančius.

During the visit to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Yurii Baulin made an entry to the Book of Court’s Honourary Guests.

During the visit in Vilnius, Ukrainian constitutionalists met with the Director of the National Judicial Administration of the Republic of Lithuania Mrs.Reda Moliene, Rector of the Mykolas Romeris University Mr. Alvydas Pumputis and Ukrainian students studying in universities of the Republic of Lithuania.

On October 24, the delegation of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine took part in the Official ceremony on the occasion of the 22nd anniversary of the Day of Constitution of the Republic ofLithuania, which was held at the Office of the President of the Republic of Lithuania.

Congratulatory addresses on the occasion of the Day of Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania were received from the President of theRepublic of Lithuania Ms. Dalia Grybauskaitė, Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania Mr. Algirdas Butkevičius and Deputy Speaker of theSeimas Mr. Algirdas Sysas.

Participants of the ceremony were the leading representatives of the legal community of the Republic of Lithuania: Minister of Justice of Republic of Lithuania Mr. Juozas Bernatonis, members of the Seimas,  Judges of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, former Judges of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, leaders and representatives of higher judicial institutions of the state, human rights activists and well-known scholars, delegations of bodies of constitutional jurisdiction of the Republic of Latvia and the Republic of Poland.

For the first time in the history of Ukrainian-Lithuanian relations in the legal sphere, Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine wasinvited to address such a representative forum. According to the programme of the ceremony, Yurii Baulindelivered a report "The Constitutional Traditions of Ukraine: from the Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk towards Modern Constitutional Reform." In his speech, Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine stated that the constitutional process between the Republic of Lithuania and Ukraine has much in common, and not just because these two nations have lived in one powerful state - Grand Duchy of Lithuania, but also that the commitment of our peoples to the ideas of constitutionalism has a long tradition.

"Yet a special place among the origins of domestic constitutionalism takes Pylyp Orlyk Constitution - a document that, according to a famous Ukrainian historian Oleksandr Ohloblin, "manifests the political will of the Ukrainian nation before the whole world and is a memorable cultural monument of Ukrainian state and political thought", said Yurii Baulin. He added that the Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk had become an important pillar in the further development of the Ukrainian statehood thought, a kind of symbol of the struggle to create an independent Ukrainian state. "It is not by chance that having read the provisions of this Constitution, a prominent French philosopher Voltaire said that "Ukraine has always sought freedom", said ChairmanBaulin.

The Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine emphasised that historical experience shows that for successful implementation of the tasks of the constitutional process not only government agencies and bodies of local self-government should take an active part, but also civil society institutions. He also added that the constitutional process must take place exclusively in the manner and in accordance with the requirements established by the Constitution of Ukraine, and there should be no doubt in the legitimacy of their results. Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine noted that the Ukrainian people have always been supporting the democratic system of the state.

Concluding the speech, Yu.Baulin expressed his gratitude to the President of the Republic of Lithuania H.E. Ms. Dalia Grybauskaitė, the leadership of the Seimas and the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, as well as the people of the Republic of Lithuania for the support of the Ukrainian people in difficult times.

Under the programme, the second speaker was the President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania Mr. Dainius Žalimas, whose presentation concerned the principle of geopolitical orientation in the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania.

After the ceremony, the participants exchanged views on a wide range of issues, which once again showed further strengthening of Ukrainian-Lithuanian judicial cooperation and interest of the parties in the approximation of the Ukrainian judicial system to the European standards.

Developed with the support of OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine
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