Lukashenka finds mistake in Constitution Court's decision??
In his opinion, the judges were mistaken as the Parliament "has no powers to declare the death moratorium".
The
state leader unexpectedly made such statement while answering the question of Deputy
Mikalaj Samasejka after reading out the Message. He said so despite the fact
that the Constitutional Court approved the said powers in 2004.
Alyaksandr Lukashenka: "The Parliament has no
powers to declare the moratorium... As for the President... If this concerns
the President, as in Russia, I will never go for it. I will not do it because I
serve my people, if you excuse me being so pompous. These are not just words for me
- I know the moods of my people".
Euroradio found that very decision of the Constitutional Court No. 3-171/2004
dated March 11, 2004. It says the following: "The Constitutional Court
considers that in current conditions the question of abolishment of this way of
punishment (death penalty - Euroradio), or its first step - declaration of the
moratorium for its implementation - may be solved by the State leader and the
Parliament".
Former head of the Constitutional Court Ryhor Vasilevich confirmed that the members
of the Belarusian Parliament were not excluded from the process of the death
penalty moratorium declaration in his recent interview to Euroradio. He used to
be the Chairman of the Constitutional Court when the above decision was taken.
Ryhor Vasilevich: "The decision of that
referendum (on the death penalty - Euroradio) had a consultative character,
and, basically, it can be decided the other way round. However, both the state
leader and the Parliament represent the people, and the people's opinions have
significance for them, and influence the decisions they take. They can be
easily understood - 80% voted! However, if we don't pay attention to that, the
issue may be solved by changing the Criminal Code. There are different variants
of solving the issue, introduction of the moratorium is also possible".
Thus, the former Chairman of the Constitutional Court has in fact confirmed
that it is impossible to solve this question without the members of Parliament.
However, Ryhor Vasilevich refuses to comment on the state leader's statement of
May 8.
In the opinion of the former judge of the Constitutional Court Valery Fadzeyeu,
the members of Parliament should play the first role in the process of
introduction of the death penalty moratorium.
Valery Fadzeyeu: "The
Parliament adopts the Criminal Code, the Parliament defines responsibility,
including the death penalty. Thus, the Parliament can take a decision on
suspension on the use of the death penalty. This should be in the form of the
law, and should be signed by the President. There is a clear connection
here!"
Naturally, the state leader can introduce the moratorium for the death penalty
without the members of Parliament - by a corresponding presidential decree.
However, in this case there appear questions with regard to whether the existence
of both the House of Representatives and the Constitutional Court is necessary.
Photo: Belta
