Ukraine's highest court yesterday stepped into a constitutional crisis pitting the president against his prime minister in a power struggle over new elections.
The constitutional court was deliberating on President Viktor Yushchenko's decision two weeks ago to dissolve parliament, which Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych says is illegal.
The hearing started in the presence of the media but was due to continue in closed session.
Western-leaning Yushchenko says parliament should be disbanded and new elections held because Yanukovych's Russian-backed allies who dominate the legislature are undermining his rule.
Yanukovych has refused to comply, sparking a major political standoff.
The court hearings were also being closely watched by outside powers, anxious about the political direction of this country of 47 million people located between the EU and NATO to the west and Russia to the east.
Mass demonstrations by supporters of the opposing camps in Kiev followed Yushchenko's order to dissolve parliament, echoing protests in 2004 known as the Orange Revolution.
Those protests swept Yushchenko to power, overturning an earlier presidential election that had been found by Western election observers to be rigged in Yanukovych's favour.
Since the Orange Revolution the president's popularity ratings have plummeted and Yanukovych has made a comeback as prime minister, following parliamentary elections last year.
On Monday Yanukovych threatened impeachment proceedings against Yushchenko if the court rules against the dissolution of parliament.
Last week, five of the court's 18 judges complained that they had come under "gross pressure" from the prime minister's parliamentary majority and demanded protection by bodyguards.
On Monday the SBU security service, regarded as close to the president, said that it was looking into suspected corruption on the part of a close relative of one of the judges, but the prosecutor general's office rejected the suspicions as invalid.
Analysts and the media have said that the only real way out of the crisis will not be by a court ruling but rather by the two sides coming to a political compromise.
Yushchenko has suggested postponing the elections necessitated by parliament's dissolution.
Both of the main protagonists in the crisis were planning foreign trips yesterday.
Yanukovych was scheduled to meet members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, while Yushchenko was to meet European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in Brussels before flying on to Britain.
Ukraine's constitutional court consists of six judges chosen by the president, six chosen by parliament and six by the legal community. Those who complained of gross pressure last week included three Yushchenko appointees, one judge appointed by parliament and one from the legal community.
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