14 February 2008, 14:20
The Committee deliberated on the Bill ‘On Amendments to the Administrative Proceedings Code of Ukraine´ (appertaining to conducting Proceedings in the Russian language, Regna. 1954), ‘On Amendments to the Procedural Criminal Code of Ukraine´ (appertaining to the language of investigative and Court documents, Reg. No. 1055), ‘On Amendments to the Procedural Business Code of Ukraine ‘ (appertaining to using the Russian language in Business proceedings, Reg.No.1058), On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine ‘On Judicial System in Ukraine´ (appertaining to conducting legal procedures in both the State and Russian languages, Reg.No.1059) introduced by the People´s Deputies of Ukraine, S Kivalov and V. Kolesnichenko.
Reviewing the provisions of these Bills, Committee members pointed out their unconstitutional nature and judicial incorrectness.
Article 10 of The Constitution of Ukraine, Committee members noted, sets out the languages with two statuses. i.e. the Ukrainian language as the sole State Language in Ukraine, and languages of national minorities in Ukraine, including Russian.
The Ruling taken by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine on 14 December 1999, states that ‘Article 10 of The Constitution of Ukraine shall be construed as follows: the Ukrainian language as the State language is an obligatory means of communication within Ukraine, used by State (legislative/executive/judiciary) power bodies and Local Governments in fulfilling their authorities (the language of acts, work, records, documentation, etc), and in other areas of public life, as laid down in the Law´.
Committee members therefore feel that the amendments proposed are not in line with The Constitution of Ukraine, stating that Judicial bodies must use the State language only.
The People´s Deputies also emphasized that legislation provides adequate protection for the rights of national minorities in Ukraine. Persons, who have no, or poor, command of the State language, are eligible to use - to protect their rights and interests secured by law - Russian and other national minorities´ languages to issue explanations, appear at proceedings, appeals, etc.