Andrey Strizhak Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Date of Birth: 21.11.1947 Country: Ukraine

Andrey Strizhak Biography

Andrey Andreevich Strizhak was born on November 21, 1947, in a peasant family in the village of Dubrovka, Uzhgorod district, Zakarpattia region, Ukrainian SSR. He began his working career as a locksmith at the Uzhgorod ATP No.06012. Later, this transport company became one of the first union ATPs involved in international passenger transportation, created in 1968 by "Sovtransavto" - the main administration of international automobile communications of the Ministry of Automobile Transport and Highways of the RSFSR. After serving in the army, Strizhak entered the Kharkiv Law Institute, graduated in 1971, and began working as an investigator at the prosecutor's office of the Ivanovo district of the Odessa region. In the same year, Strizhak was transferred to Zakarpattia region, where until 1978 he held positions as an assistant prosecutor of Uzhgorod, prosecutor of the regional investigative department, and senior assistant prosecutor of Zakarpattia region. In 1978, Strizhak was elected as a judge. From 1985 to 1988, he worked as the deputy chairman of the Zakarpattia Regional Court. In 1988, Strizhak became a judge of the Supreme Court of the Ukrainian SSR (since 1992 - the Supreme Court of Ukraine). In 1995, he became the chairman of the judicial collegium for criminal cases in the Supreme Court. According to some reports, Strizhak owed his career growth to the head of the Zakarpattia Regional Court, Ilya Lendel. In 1996, Strizhak moved back to Zakarpattia region, becoming the chairman of the regional court. According to some reports, his return was supported by the same Lendel, while others claimed that Strizhak actually took the chairmanship of the regional court from his former boss. In August 2001, Strizhak took the position of chairman of the appellate court of Zakarpattia region. Some experts called Strizhak a close friend of another native of Zakarpattia region, Viktor Baloha (a member of the "Our Ukraine" faction since 2002), while others claimed the opposite. According to some reports, during the first Mukachevo election campaign in 2003 (for the mayor of Mukachevo, Zakarpattia region), Strizhak acted in the interests of Baloha's cousin - the candidate from "Our Ukraine," Vasily Petiuk. Strizhak directed the consideration of a case challenging Petiuk's registration in the Uzhgorod city court, whose judge refused to satisfy the complaint of Petiuk's main rival - the candidate from the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united), Ernest Nuser. Petiuk was elected as the mayor of Mukachevo. The following year, Baloha decided to run for mayor himself. According to some reports, on April 18, 2004, he defeated Nuser with a margin of 5.5 thousand votes, while according to other reports, his opponent won by a margin of 5 thousand votes. As a result, the elections were declared invalid, and Petiuk was reinstated as the head of the city administration. In August 2004, the appellate court of Zakarpattia region finally refused to review the results of the mayoral elections in Mukachevo. It is known that before the hearing, Strizhak himself changed the composition of the court panel considering the complaint and issued an unfavorable verdict for Baloha. On December 27, 2004, at the sixth congress of judges of Ukraine, Strizhak was elected as a judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine but took the oath and assumed office only on August 4, 2006, together with other judges elected to the Constitutional Court. According to experts, Strizhak could not take office for so long due to Baloha's opposition, who held the position of governor of Zakarpattia Oblast Administration since February 2005. Baloha convinced the parliamentary "orange" majority that as the chairman of the appellate court of Zakarpattia region, Strizhak allegedly supported the SDPU (o). Strizhak was even forced to appeal to President Viktor Yushchenko asking to restore him to the position of chairman of the regional appellate court and withdrew his application only after he was approved as a judge of the Constitutional Court. In late 2006, Strizhak became the reporting judge on the appeal of "Our Ukraine" deputies who tried to challenge the decision of the Verkhovna Rada prohibiting judges of the Constitutional Court from revising the constitutional changes that had come into force. According to experts, this amendment to the Law "On the Constitutional Court of Ukraine" was adopted to prevent the reassessment of the constitutionality of the political reform approved by the parliament on December 8, 2004, which significantly limited the powers of the President of Ukraine. By becoming the reporting judge, Strizhak asked Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych to express his position, after which some experts doubted Strizhak's impartiality (the head of the government was neither the subject of constitutional representation nor the author of the law). A decision on this issue, as well as on other appeals to the Constitutional Court, was never made. On April 2, 2007, Yushchenko signed a decree on the early termination of the powers of the Verkhovna Rada, appointing extraordinary parliamentary elections for May 27, 2007. The Parliament and the Government of Ukraine did not comply with the President's decree. On April 26, 2007, Yushchenko signed a new decree appointing early parliamentary elections, moving them from May 27 to June 24, 2007. The Constitutional Court, which was supposed to act as an arbiter in the confrontation between branches of power, split into opposing camps. Three judges of the Constitutional Court were initially dismissed by the President's decree but later reinstated by the district court. On May 17, 2007, Ivan Dombrovskiy resigned as the Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, remaining a regular judge of the Court. Only on May 26, 2007, President Yushchenko, Prime Minister Yanukovych, and Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksandr Moroz managed to agree on the date for the extraordinary parliamentary elections, scheduled for September 30, 2007. Until June 12, 2007, Valeriy Pshenichnyi (as the oldest deputy chairman) served as the acting chairman of the Constitutional Court, but he later resigned, and Dombrovskiy became the head of the Court again (as the oldest judge). On June 22, 2007, in the elections for the new Chairman of the Constitutional Court, Strizhak received 8 votes, while his only competitor, Pavel Tkachuk, received 7 votes. Neither of the candidates had the support of at least 10 judges, so the elections were declared invalid, and experts speculated that repeat elections would not change the balance of power. However, on July 10, 2007, Strizhak was elected as the Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine: during a secret ballot, 10 out of 14 judges present at the meeting voted for him. According to some observers, the position of the chairman of the Ukrainian Constitutional Court could once again become crucial if one of the parties seeks to cancel the early parliamentary elections. On September 30, 2007, the extraordinary parliamentary elections took place in Ukraine. In November 2007, the democratic coalition of the "Our Ukraine - People's Self-Defense" bloc (NU-NS) and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (BYuT) was officially created. It nominated Yulia Tymoshenko as a candidate for the position of Prime Minister (she assumed office in December 2007). However, less than a year later, the conflict between President Yushchenko and Prime Minister Tymoshenko led to the collapse of the "orange coalition." In October 2008, Yushchenko signed a decree on the early termination of the powers of the parliament and the appointment of extraordinary elections for the Verkhovna Rada deputies. However, he later extended the terms of the parliament's powers, postponing the early elections first from December 7 to December 14 and later to 2009. During another escalation of tensions between President Yushchenko and the Tymoshenko-led government of Ukraine, the head of state appealed to the Constitutional Court with a question: should the reformed coalition in the Verkhovna Rada submit for approval a new prime minister and other ministers, seeking to declare the current cabinet illegitimate. However, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine essentially distanced itself from political conflicts, giving the answer: "submitting proposals to the President regarding the candidacy of the Prime Minister, as well as the candidates for the composition of the Cabinet of Ministers, is exclusively within the competence of the coalition of parliamentary factions in the Verkhovna Rada." "Our decision does not answer the question posed by the President, but we have provided an answer within the framework of the Constitution and our powers. With this decision, we confirmed the order established in the Constitution," commented Strizhak on the situation. However, most observers remained puzzled, and each of the conflicting parties considered themselves the winner. In May of the same year, Strizhak regretfully noted that the Constitutional Court "is forced to act as an arbiter in a political confrontation within the system of state authorities." Strizhak is the author of several scientific publications on administrative law and holds a candidate degree in legal sciences. He has been awarded the honorary title of Honored Lawyer of Ukraine. Strizhak has children: his son, Andrey Andreevich Jr., was accused in one publication during the Mukachevo campaigns of smuggling cars, and his father (at that time the chairman of the regional appellate court) was accused of covering up the adoption of Ukrainian children by foreign citizens, which allegedly cost adoptive parents $20-50 thousand per child.