By Oksana PANCHENKO, The Day
On June 22 the Constitutional Court adjourned hearings in the case on whether
capital punishment complies with the Constitution, brought by People's
Deputies who are currently attending a PACE session in Strasbourg. In the
opinion of 51 People's Deputies who signed the petition, the articles of
Ukraine's Penal Code authorizing the death penalty run counter to constitutional
provisions recognizing the right to live as an integral and inalienable
human right. It is with such slogans that the Youth is Ukraine's Hope Association
picketed the Constitutional Court.
This is how the lawmakers, at the initiative of Ukraine's parliamentary
delegation in PACE, attempted to resolve the problem of capital punishment.
The de facto moratorium on carrying out death sentences meant that
convicts on death row are now in legal limbo. Europe considers this a gross
violation of human rights. So the Council of Europe demands a de jure
moratorium.
The Solons who initiated the petition decided to choose for the Lithuanian
option of declaring capital punishment unconstitutional. In this case the
issue could get snared in a juridical trap, lawyers claim. According to
Volodymyr Naumov, who works in the legislative Ombudsman's secretariat,
the Constitution of Ukraine points out that nobody can be deprived of life
unlawfully. But the Constitutional Court could rule that capital punishment
is legalized in the Penal Code and, hence, complies with the Constitution.
"To avoid this," Mr. Naumov believes, "it is necessary to amend the Constitution."







