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.
PHOTO: EPA
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.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of