Court head dismissed amid rising claims of plots against Zelenskiy

The judges of Ukraine’s Constitutional Court voted on
May 14 to dismiss its head, Stanislav Shevchuk. That morning, they decided to
review a report produced by the court’s rules and ethics commission that
determined grounds exist to dismiss Shevchuk based on his “material disciplinary
offense, and gross and systemic negligence of his responsibilities.” Shevchuk
also violated the Constitution by issuing illegal orders, politicizing the
court’s activity, ignoring the rights of judges and violating constitutional
guarantees, the report said. NGO leaders blamed Shevchuk for overturning the
law on punishing illegal enrichment, which drew the criticism of leading
Western authorities and puts the IMF loan tranche at risk. 12 of the court’s 18
judges voted for his dismissal. Shevchuk was elected Constitutional Court head
in February 2018 after joining the court in March 2014. He was replaced by
Natalia Shaptala, who joined the court in 2010. She was nominated for dismissal
by several MPs in 2014 for alleged violations during the Yanukovych presidency.

In response to his dismissal, Shevchuk alleged
President Poroshenko of launching a coup to prevent President-elect Volodymyr
Zelenskiy from taking office, echoing mounting speculation that the current
administration is seeking to delay his inauguration indefinitely. “The judges
of the state’s main constitutional body, which took an oath to the people of
Ukraine, themselves committed a felony to overthrow the constitutional order,”
Shevchuk wrote on his Facebook page. “The overthrow occurred quickly, with
gross and egregious violations to Ukraine’s Constitution.” Poroshenko is
“making every effort to retain power by maintaining control over the main state
institutions,” he wrote, adding that he will appeal to the courts and law
enforcement authorities.

The Zelenskiy team declined to support Shevchuk in his
claims of a government overthrow, instead defending the Constitutional Court’s
vote. The judges voted to dismiss him because they didn’t like his managerial
style, such as frequent violations of procedures, said Ruslan Riaboshapka, a
key adviser to Zelenskiy. With the quick selection of the new head, “the judges
demonstrated maturity and consciousness, and in this way didn’t create any
problems for the newly elected president Zelenskiy to take his oath,” he said,
as reported by Interfax-Ukraine.

Opponents of President-elect Zelenskiy in Ukraine’s
parliament have already prepared legislation to remove his remaining authority,
Dmytro Razumkov, among his key advisers, told a political talk show on May 13.
He claimed that on Apr. 22, the day after the runoff vote that Zelenskiy won,
Parliamentary Deputy Head Oksana Syroyid recommended at an agenda meeting to
put to vote a bill to restrict the president’s authority. “Many of the
functions that they wanted to simplify with the likely law belong to the
president’s constitutional authority,” Razumkov said. “In that way, a
liquidation of the institution of the presidency occurred, almost transitioning
to a parliamentary republic.” He did not mention what prompted the MPs to
abandon their plans.

Zenon Zawada: Throughout
the election campaign, we saw a likelihood of President Poroshenko of clinging
to power. To wide relief, Poroshenko has not resorted to extreme measures. We
expect Poroshenko will continue to act in good faith and uphold the law, which
stipulates the inauguration should occur by June 2, or within 30 days of the
official publication of the election results.

On the other hand, the president’s team is engaged in
making many last-minute personnel decisions and political moves that can disrupt Zelenskiy’s
potential plans for reform, to one degree or another. This post-election
competition between pro-Western forces, driven by resentment, has the potential
to further destabilize Ukraine. We are confident more serious attempts will be
made in parliament by the year end to remove Zelenskiy’s remaining authority as
president, which lie in the foreign policy, defense and national security
spheres.