Chairman of the
Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Volodymyr Lytvyn met Marietta de Pourbaix-Lundin
and Mailis Raps, Co-Rapporteurs of the Committee on
the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by
Member States of the Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee).
V.Lytvyn highly appreciated the meeting with the leaders of the monitoring group and cooperation with the Venice Commission. He hopes for the further contacts aimed at the development of democracy in Ukraine. He declared that Ukraine aims at rapid fulfillment of commitments to the Council of Europe, and informed about the efforts of the Verkhovna Rada in this respect.
According to the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian Parliament is working upon the bills on fundamental constitutional laws. "It is utterly important to make the constitutional changes here, in the parliament", V. Lytvyn stated. "However, the situation is not pressing and does not require immediate amending of the Fundamental Law or adoption of a new Constitution."
Volodymyr Lytvyn stated that the reform of criminal justice is an essential element of protection of the constitutional rights. Thus, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada reminded that the work upon a new Code of Criminal Proceedings had been completed, and in August the draft was sent for an expert review to the Council of Europe. "A separate chapter in the new Code regulates the role and functions of the prosecution office in the criminal procedural justice", he informed. According to V. Lytvyn, after the code is adopted, a new concept of law-enforcement agencies will be developed. The general conclusion of the Venice Commission and the Secretariat of the Council of Europe regarding the bill "On Advocacy" is to be adopted in October. "We would rather adopt these key issues before the end of the year", V. Lytvyn stressed.
Co-Rapporteurs
of the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and
Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee)
Marietta de Pourbaix-Lundin and Mailis
Raps expressed their gratitude for the meeting, noting that Ukraine is a very
dynamic state. "There are not so many states in Europe which can develop so
rapidly", M. de Pourbaix-Lundin stated.
Asked about the court proceedings against Yulia Tymoshenko, the Head of the Ukrainian Parliament stated that in 2002-2004, the Verkhovna Rada received three prosecutor's appeals to hold former People´s Deputy Yu.Tymoshenko liable. "As the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, I returned the appeals three times with the request to supply additional arguments", V.Lytvyn reminded. This year, the Verkhovna Rada listened to the report of the Prosecution General on the case of ex-Prime Minister Yu. Tymoshenko. However, it took place during the pre-trial proceedings. At the moment, the Verkhovna Rada has no legal rights to interfere with the judicial trial. The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine expects the parliament to improve the Code of Criminal Proceedings of Ukraine. The Head of the Ukrainian Parliament considers the case against Yu. Tymoshenko to be an essential precedent for all the citizens, and hopes that Yu. Tymoshenko will manage to establish her case with the help of legal arguments.
The participants of the meeting focused on the law on elections of the People´s Deputies. V.Lytvyn is convinced that "the law on elections is a rather political matter: each party and each politician is willing to include their own preferences into it." Thus, the Chairman deems necessary to adopt the law in line with the interests of the public rather than politicians. V. Lytvyn assured the co-rapporteurs that the Ukrainian Parliament is ready to adopt the law on elections of the People´s Deputies the year before the coming parliamentary elections scheduled for October 2012.