On 29 December 1999 the Court interpreted the Constitution as unconditionally ruling out
capital punishment; this is the date when Ukraine de jure abolished capital punishment after a long period of a de facto moratorium. In the 2000s attempts to bribe and blackmail Constitutional Court judges to get a favourable ruling were reported. On 14 November 2001 the Court outlawed the institution of
propiska. On 25 December 2003 the Court allowed
Leonid Kuchma to run for
presidency for the third time; Kuchma chose not to run for re-election. Amidst the
2007 Ukrainian political crisis, on 30 April 2007, on the eve of the Constitutional Court's ruling on the legality of the president's decree dismissing Ukraine's parliament, President Yushchenko, in defiance of the PACE resolution of 19 April intervened in the operation of Ukraine's Constitutional Court by summarily dismissing two Constitutional Court Judges,
Syuzanna Stanik and
Valeriy Pshenychnyy, for allegations of "oath treason." His move was later overturned by the Constitutional Court and the judges were returned by a
temporary restraining order issued by the court. On 16 May, Viktor Yushchenko, for a second time, issued another decree dismissing the two Constitutional Court Judges
Syuzanna Stanik and
Valeriy Pshenychnyy. On 17 May, the Constitutional Court chairman
Ivan Dombrovskyy resigned and was replaced by
Valeriy Pshenychnyy. On 23 May, The Constitutional Court of Ukraine acted to prevent the president's undue influence on the court system. The court's ruling was made after Viktor Yushchenko was accused of unduly seeing to influence the court by illegally firing two Constitutional Court judges
Valeriy Pshenychnyy and
Syuzanna Stanik for allegations of "oath treason.". The other two judges who were also illegally dismissed had previously tendered their resignations and as such were not subject to the courts order. Following the president's intervention the Constitutional Court still has not ruled on the question of legality of the president's actions. On 25 March 2008 Ukraine's Supreme Administrative Court ruled the President's dismissal of Syuzanna Stanik as a Constitutional Court judge illegal. Ms Stanik's position has been reinstated. The decision is final and not subject to further appeal On 3 April 2008 Stanik was dismissed from the Court by the order of the President. On 28 April 2010, President
Viktor Yanukovych reinstated Stanik as Constitutional Court judge. She resigned the next day. On 1 October 2010 the Court determined the
2004 amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine unconstitutional, repealing them. On 21 February 2014
parliament passed a law that reinstated these December 2004 amendments (of the constitution). On 27 October 2020 the court decision to repeal Article 366-1 of the
Criminal Code of Ukraine, which had provided for liability for inaccurate declaration of assets by government officials pushed Ukraine into the
2020 Ukrainian constitutional crisis. On 29 December 2020 President
Volodymyr Zelensky suspended the courts chairperson
Oleksandr Tupytskyi for two months in an effort to end the crisis. On 27 March 2021 Zelensky annulled the decree of former President
Viktor Yanukovych of May 2013, appointing Oleksandr Tupytskyi a judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. As a result, for some time, it was unclear who was the Chairperson of the Court.
Reforms On 17 August 2023, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the law on the selection of judges of the Constitutional Court. At the end of July 2023, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the Law of Ukraine on the selection of judges of the Constitutional Court with the participation of international experts. According to the law, the selection will be carried out with the participation of the Advisory Group of Experts. Half of these experts will be people delegated by international organizations and the Venice Commission, who will have a decisive vote in filtering candidates for the Constitutional Court. This law was one of the requirements of the European Commission for the start of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the European Union. ==Membership==