Today, November 18, Deputy Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Serhiy Holovaty together with Judges Viktor Horodovenko, Viktor Kychun and Oleh Pervomaiskyi held a meeting with the Director General of the Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe Christos Giakoumopoulos.
The delegation of the Council of Europe also included Section Registrar, Registry of the European Court of Human Rights Victor Soloveytchik, Head of the Division of the Department for the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights of the Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe Pavlo Pushkar, lawyers of this Division Olha Dubinska and Nadiia Zadorozhna, legal officer, Secretariat of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe Taras Pashuk, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine Vahagn Muradyan, and programme manager, Council of Europe Office in Ukraine Iryna Kushnir.
The parties discussed the execution of the ECHR judgments, in particular those under enhanced supervision procedure pending before the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, specific decisions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine and some aspects of the judicial reforms in Ukraine.
Serhiy Holovaty noted that cooperation between the Constitutional Court of Ukraine and the Council of Europe is important and fruitful. He stressed that the decisions of the Ukrainian body of constitutional jurisdiction are based on the sources of international law, in particular the ECHR case-law. As an example, he referred to the recent decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine in the case on the revision of the sentence of a person sentenced to life imprisonment. He noted that when adopting this decision the ECHR case-law and international obligations undertaken by Ukraine when joining the Council of Europe were taken into account.
The interlocutors also stressed the importance of the development of the institute of individual constitutional complaint in Ukraine as an important tool of the protection of human and citizen’s rights in Ukraine. The efficiency of the functioning of the constitutional complaint at the national level could enable the reduction of the ECHR’s workload on the part of the Ukrainian applicants.
During the meeting the expediency of amending the Law of Ukraine on Ratification of Protocol No. 16 to the European Convention on Human Rights which could provide for a possibility for the Constitutional Court of Ukraine to request the ECHR for an advisory opinion.
In conclusion, the parties agreed on further forms of cooperation.
