Lietuviškai
THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT OF THE REPUBLIC OF
LITHUANIA
DECISION
ON THE REQUEST OF A GROUP OF SEIMAS MEMBERS TO
DETERMINE THE COMPLIANCE OF THE REPUBLIC OF
LITHUANIA LAW ON THE AMENDMENT OF THE LAW ON
INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS, MILITARY EXERCISES AND
OTHER MILITARY EVENTS WITH THE CONSTITUTION OF THE
REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
24 April 2002
Vilnius
The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania,
composed of the Judges of the Constitutional Court Armanas
Abramavičius, Egidijus Jarašiūnas, Egidijus Kūris, Kęstutis
Lapinskas, Zenonas Namavičius, Augustinas Normantas, Jonas
Prapiestis, Vytautas Sinkevičius, and Stasys Stačiokas,
with the secretary of the hearing-Daiva Pitrėnaitė,
in the procedural sitting of the Constitutional Court
considered the report made by the judge Kęstutis Lapinskas on
the preliminary investigation of the petition by a group of
members of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, dated 19
April 2002, requesting to determine whether the Republic of
Lithuania Law on the Amendment of the Law on International
Operations, Military Exercises and Other Military Events was in
compliance with the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania
and the Republic of Lithuania Constitutional Act on
Non-Alignment of the Republic of Lithuania to Post-Soviet
Eastern alliances.
The Constitutional Court
has established:
On 15 January 2002, the Seimas enacted the Republic of
Lithuania Law on the Amendment of the Law on International
Operations, Military Exercises and Other Military Events
(Official Gazette Valstybės žinios, 2002, No. 13-465). On 19
April 2002, a group of Seimas members appealed to the
Constitutional Court with a petition requesting to determine
whether Paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 of Article 5, Paragraphs 2, 3 and
4 of Article 6, Paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of Article 10 and
Paragraphs 2, 3 and 5 of Article 14 were in compliance with
Paragraph 2 of Article 5, Item 20 of Article 67, Item 16 of
Article 84, Article 142 of the Constitution and Item 3 of the
substantive provisions of the Republic of Lithuania
Constitutional Act on Non-alignment of the Republic of
Lithuania to Post-Soviet Eastern Alliances.
The Constitutional Court
holds that:
Under Article 106 of the Constitution, not less than
one-fifth of the members of the Seimas, i.e. not less than 29
members of the Seimas, shall have the right to address the
Constitutional Court. The will of the Seimas members to address
the Constitutional Court must be expressed clearly and in no
uncertain terms.
The aforesaid petition was signed by 40 members of the
Seimas, however, the names of 9 members of the Seimas together
with the signatures were expunged. Below all these signatures
there is an entry "I certify the authenticity of the
signatures" signed by A. Paulauskas, Chairman of the Seimas of
the Republic of Lithuania. There is no indication therein as to
how many signatures of the Seimas members are certified and
when this is done. The Constitutional Court received the
petition of the group of the Seimas members on 19 April 2002.
On the same day the Constitutional Court received Letter No.
010-387 of 18 April 2002 from A. Paulauskas, Chairman of the
Seimas, which said that "in the light of new circumstances, the
members of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania J.
Budrevičius, V. Popovas and R. Sinkevičius have annulled their
signatures in the petition to the Constitutional Court
concerning Law No. IX-703-Republic of Lithuania Law on the
Amendment of the Law on International Operations, Military
Exercises and Other Military Events". The request of 18 April
2002 of the Seimas members addressed to E. Klumbys, a Seimas
member, the representative of the group of Seimas members,
requesting to annul their signatures in the petition to the
Constitutional Court on the compliance of the said law with the
Constitution was attached to the above-mentioned letter.
It needs to be noted that in deciding whether the petition
has been filed by the entity that is entitled to address the
Constitutional Court under Article 106 of the Constitution, one
must determine whether the petition has been signed by so many
Seimas members as provided for in Article 106 of the
Constitution.
In the petition filed with the Constitutional Court on 19
April 2002, there were only 28 members of the Seimas who
expressed their will clearly and in no uncertain terms, i.e.
less than 1/5 of all Seimas members. This is not in conformity
with the requirement established in Article 106 of the
Constitution. Under Item 1 of Paragraph 1 of Article 69 of the
Law on the Constitutional Court, the fact that the petition was
signed and filed by less than 1/5 of Seimas members constitutes
grounds for refusal to accept such a petition for
consideration.
The Constitutional Court notes that, under Paragraph 2 of
Article 66 of the Law on the Constitutional Court, the
signatures of the Seimas members must be confirmed by the
signature of the Chairperson or Deputy Chairperson of the
Seimas. This provision of the Law on the Constitutional Court
also means that the Chairperson or Deputy Chairperson of the
Seimas, while confirming the signatures of the Seimas members,
must indicate the number of the signatures confirmed as well as
the date of the confirmation of the signatures. The list of the
names of Seimas members together with the signatures must be
neat, it must contain no deletions or corrections.
Conforming to Item 1 of Paragraph 1 of Article 69 of the
Republic of Lithuania Law on the Constitutional Court, the
Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania has adopted
the following
decision:
To refuse to accept the petition of a group of members of
the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania of 19 April 2002 for
consideration, requesting to determine whether Paragraphs 2, 3
and 4 of Article 5, Paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 of Article 6,
Paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of Article 10 and Paragraphs 2, 3 and 5
of Article 14 the Republic of Lithuania Law on the Amendment of
the Law on International Operations, Military Exercises and
Other Military Events are in compliance with Paragraph 2 of
Article 5, Item 20 of Article 67, Item 16 of Article 84,
Article 142 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania
and Item 3 of the substantive provisions of the Republic of
Lithuania Constitutional Act on Non-alignment of the Republic
of Lithuania to Post-Soviet Eastern Alliances.