Constitutional Court refuses to consider laws on special status for Donbas, amnesty

The Grand Chamber of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine has refused to open proceedings on the constitutionality of the laws on a special order of self-government in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and on amnesty for participants in events in Donbas.
Such a decision was made during a court hearing on Monday, January 27, the court's press service reported.

In particular, the report notes that the Constitutional Court considered the possibility of opening proceedings in the case on a constitutional motion filed by 53 MPs regarding the constitutionality of the laws on a special order of local self-government in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, on the creation of the necessary conditions for the peaceful settlement of the situation in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and on preventing the persecution and punishment of persons who participated in events in the territory of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

"The Grand Chamber of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine issued a ruling on the refusal to open constitutional proceedings," the court said.

In July 2019, a group of MPs submitted a motion to the Constitutional Court regarding the constitutionality of the provisions of the said laws.

In December 2019, the Ukrainian parliament approved amendments to the law on a special order of local self-government in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, extending the validity of the law until December 31, 2020.

Subsequently, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law to extend for one more year the law on the peculiarities of local self-government in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.