The Grand Chamber of the Court at the public part of the plenary session in the form of oral proceedings deliberated the case upon the constitutional petition of 99 People's Deputies of Ukraine regarding the official interpretation of Article 4 of the Constitution of Ukraine.
During the plenary session, the judge-rapporteur in the case, Oleh Pervomaiskyi, outlined the content of the constitutional petition and the grounds for initiating constitutional proceedings. He noted that the subject of the right to constitutional petition appealed to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine to provide an official interpretation of Article 4 of the Constitution of Ukraine in the aspect that “There is single citizenship in Ukraine”.
The petitioners believe that the need for an official interpretation of Article 4 of the Constitution of Ukraine “is important for the development and strengthening of Ukraine as a democratic, social, legal state and preventing the adoption of legislative acts that violate constitutional principles”. In the constitutional petition, the People's Deputies of Ukraine note that the legislation of Ukraine on citizenship prohibits cases of multiple citizenship through the establishment of a procedure for the loss of Ukrainian citizenship by decision of the President of Ukraine. However, in their opinion, the Law of Ukraine “On Citizenship of Ukraine” does not provide for an effective mechanism for the implementation of this provision.
The judge-rapporteur informed that in order to ensure a full and objective deliberation of the case and to deliver a well-grounded decision, the Court had sent a number of inquiries to state authorities, academic institutions, and members of the Research Advisory Council of the Constitutional Court regarding the issues raised in the constitutional petition to deliver their opinions. The Court will examine the content of the received replies during the in-camera part of the plenary session of the Grand Chamber.
During the plenary session, the Court heard the participants of the constitutional proceedings - the representative of the subject of the right to constitutional petition, People's Deputy of Ukraine Oleksandr Bakumov, the Permanent Representative of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Maksym Dyrdin, the Representative of the President of Ukraine in the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Serhii Dembovskyi.
The involved participants in the constitutional proceedings - Doctor of Legal Sciences, professor Volodymyr Vasylenko, members of the Research Advisory Council of the Constitutional Court: Doctor of Legal Sciences, professor Olena Boryslavska, Doctor of Legal Sciences, professor Mykola Koziubra, as well as the Head of the State Migration Service of Ukraine Natalia Naumenko also expressed their opinions.
After studying the case files in the public part of the plenary session, the Court proceeded to the in-camera part for a decision.
The session is available on the official website of the Court in the section “Archive of Video Broadcasts of Sessions”.
