Andrew Stryzgak – Head of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine (2004-2013 years), from 2007 to 2010 President of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. In 1996-2004 he was the chairman of the Transcarpathian Regional Court and the Court of Appeal of the Transcarpathian region. In 1988-1996 he was a judge of the Supreme Court of the Ukrainian SSR (later – the Supreme Court of Ukraine).
What is unique about our Constitutional Court of Ukraine? The fact that we can make decisions, that is, we assess the constitutionality of the proposed changes to the Constitution of Ukraine. This is special and distinguishes us from other constitutional courts. Sometimes we do not work on the nature of the problem, because political power influences our decision. There are decisions of the Constitutional Court, which is politically motivated, I would say. Of course, everyone should obey the law, but, unfortunately, it is still not a reality in our country.
The Constitution says that the most important is the Ukrainian people. You simply have to ask the people: what is the better choice for us – a unitary state or a federation. But for this you need to explain to the people what the benefits of a unitary state are in comparison with a federal system, what are the advantages of one or the other system. We have the power of people in the country, and we forget about it.
It is necessary to put in order our Constitution, and also to bring the legislation of Ukraine in accordance with the Constitution, to hold a referendum. And only on the basis of the referendum and the constitutional assembly, we can then hope that the Constitution to be adopted, will be stable.