Lietuviškai
THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT OF THE REPUBLIC OF
LITHUANIA
DECISION
ON THE REQUEST OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF
LITHUANIA "ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE CONCLUSION
OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT"
6 April 2004
Vilnius
The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania,
composed of the Justices 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 its procedural sitting considered the 2 April 2004
request "On the Construction of the Conclusion of the
Constitutional Court" by President Rolandas Paksas of the
Republic of Lithuania.
The Constitutional Court
has established:
1. The President of the Republic Rolandas Paksas applied
to the Constitutional Court with the 2 April 2004 request "On
the Construction of the Conclusion of the Constitutional Court"
(hereinafter also referred to as the Request), in which he
requests to construe the following:
"1. In which stage of impeachment proceedings in the
Seimas the investigation of the evidence ought to be
accomplished, by which one either affirms or denies the
necessity to remove the President of the Republic from office.
2. Does this change in the impeachment proceedings, which
appeared in the course of the impeachment proceedings, not
violate the protection of legitimate interests and legitimate
expectations, legal certainty and legal security of the
impeached person.
3. Will the elimination of the interrogation stage at the
impeachment proceedings in the Seimas not violate the
fundamental legal principle, the right of the person to defend
himself against the charges brought against him, when the
person did not have any objective opportunity-the right to
defend against the charges brought against him, which have not
been investigated in the Constitutional Court."
2. The 2 April 2004 request "On the Construction of the
Conclusion of the Constitutional Court" of the President of the
Republic was received at the Constitutional Court on 5 April
2004.
The Constitutional Court
holds that:
1. On 31 March 2004, the Constitutional Court presented
the Conclusion "On the compliance of actions of President
Rolandas Paksas of the Republic of Lithuania against whom an
impeachment case has been instituted with the Constitution of
the Republic of Lithuania".
2. The President of the Republic Rolandas Paksas requests
to construe the following:
"1. In which stage of impeachment proceedings in the
Seimas the investigation of the evidence ought to be
accomplished, by which one either affirms or denies the
necessity to remove the President of the Republic from office.
2. Does this change in the impeachment proceedings, which
appeared in the course of the impeachment proceedings, not
violate the protection of legitimate interests and legitimate
expectations, legal certainty and legal security of the
impeached person.
3. Will the elimination of the interrogation stage at the
impeachment proceedings in the Seimas not violate the
fundamental legal principle, the right of the person to defend
himself against the charges brought against him, when the
person did not have any objective opportunity-the right to
defend against the charges brought against him, which have not
been investigated in the Constitutional Court."
3. Under Paragraph 3 of Article 105 of the Constitution,
the Constitutional Court presents conclusions:
1) whether there were violations of election laws during
elections of the President of the Republic or elections of
members of the Seimas;
2) whether the state of health of the President of the
Republic permits him to continue to hold office;
3) whether international treaties of the Republic of
Lithuania are not in conflict with the Constitution;
4) whether concrete actions of members of the Seimas and
State officials against whom an impeachment case has been
instituted are in conflict with the Constitution.
Paragraph 2 of Article 107 of the Constitution provides
that the decisions of the Constitutional Court on issues
ascribed to its competence by the Constitution shall be final
and not subject to appeal.
4. Under Article 61 of the Law on the Constitutional
Court, the Constitutional Court is empowered to construe its
rulings. Paragraph 1 of Article 61 of the Law on the
Constitutional Court provides that a ruling of the
Constitutional Court may only be officially construed by the
Constitutional Court at the request of the parties to the case,
of other institutions or persons to whom it was sent, or on its
own initiative.
A Constitutional Court conclusion, as well as a
Constitutional Court ruling, is a final act of the
Constitutional Court. Therefore, it is evident that, if the
Constitutional Court enjoys powers to construe its rulings,
then it also enjoys powers to construe it conclusions at the
request of the parties to the case, of other institutions or
persons to whom it was sent, or on its own initiative.
5. The President of the Republic Rolandas Paksas used to
be the party concerned-the impeached person-in Case No. 14/04,
in which the Constitutional Court presented the Conclusion "On
the compliance of actions of President Rolandas Paksas of the
Republic of Lithuania against whom an impeachment case has been
instituted with the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania"
on 31 March 2004. Therefore, the President of the Republic
Rolandas Paksas has the right to request that the
Constitutional Court construe the 31 March 2004 Conclusion "On
the compliance of actions of President Rolandas Paksas of the
Republic of Lithuania against whom an impeachment case has been
instituted with the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania".
6. It is inter alia maintained in the 2 April 2004 request
"On the Construction of the Conclusion of the Constitutional
Court" of the President of the Republic that in its conclusion
of 31 March 2004 the Constitutional Court "presented a new
legal interpretation of norms of the Statute of the Seimas",
that "the regulation of impeachment proceedings established in
the Statute of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania was
changed", that in the legal proceedings at the Constitutional
Court "the impeached person did not have an objective
opportunity to defend himself against the charges formulated in
the proposal to institute impeachment proceedings". The
President of the Republic Rolandas Paksas also doubts whether
"the elimination of the interrogation stage in this stage of
impeachment will not the fundamental legal principle-the right
of the person to defend himself against the charges brought
against him."
It needs to be noted that in the Constitutional Court
Conclusion "On the compliance of actions of President Rolandas
Paksas of the Republic of Lithuania against whom an impeachment
case has been instituted with the Constitution of the Republic
of Lithuania" of 31 March 2004 the constitutional concept of
impeachment proceedings is set forth. In the said conclusion
the Constitutional Court developed the constitutional concept
of impeachment proceedings that was set down in the
Constitutional Court rulings of 11 May 1999 and 30 March 2000.
It needs to be emphasised that the statement of the
President of the Republic that, purportedly, he in the legal
proceedings at the Constitutional Court did not have an
objective opportunity to defend himself "against the charges
formulated in the proposal to institute impeachment
proceedings" is groundless, since the President of the Republic
Rolandas Paksas was summoned to appear in the Constitutional
Court hearing in which the case was investigated whether
concrete actions of the President of the Republic Rolandas
Paksas were not in conflict with the Constitution, and he had
an opportunity to give explanations and defend himself in that
hearing, however, the President of the Republic Rolandas Paksas
did not appear in the Constitutional Court hearing and
conducted the case not by himself but through his
representatives.
7. The 2 April 2004 request "On the Construction of the
Conclusion of the Constitutional Court" of the President of the
Republic does not indicate particular statements of the
aforesaid conclusion of the Constitutional Court, which might
be construed. Actually, the 2 April 2004 request "On the
Construction of the Conclusion of the Constitutional Court" of
the President of the Republic is not a request to construe
particular statements of the conclusion of the Constitutional
Court, but a request, based on certain assumptions, to present
a legal advice on how the initiated impeachment proceedings
against the President of the Republic ought to be conducted in
the Seimas.
Under the Law on the Constitutional Court, the
Constitutional Court does not give legal advice either to the
parties that participated in the case, or any other persons.
8. Under Article 85 of the Constitution, the President of
the Republic, implementing the powers vested in him, shall
issue acts-decrees. The provision of the same content that the
President of the Republic, implementing the powers vested in
him, shall issue acts-decrees is established in Paragraph 1 of
Article 15 of the Law on the President of the Republic of
Lithuania. Item 10 of Section 1 of Chapter VI of the Rules of
the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania provides
that the President of the Republic shall apply to the
Constitutional Court by a decree if he requests construction of
a ruling of the Constitutional Court; the arguments upon which
the request is grounded are set forth in the decree (annex
thereof) or attached documents.
9. The 2 April 2004 request "On the Construction of the
Conclusion of the Constitutional Court" of the President of the
Republic to construe the Constitutional Court conclusion of 31
March 2004 does not meet, as to its content, the requirements
of Article 61 of the Law on the Constitutional Court, also, as
to its form, it does not meet the requirements of Article 85 of
the Constitution, Paragraph 1 of Article 15 of the Law on the
President of the Republic of Lithuania and Item 10 of Section 1
of Chapter VI of the Rules of the Constitutional Court of the
Republic of Lithuania.
Conforming to Article 102 of the Constitution of the
Republic of Lithuania and Articles 1, 28 and 61 of the Law on
the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, the
Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania has adopted
the following
decision:
To refuse to construe the 31 March 2004 Conclusion "On the
compliance of actions of President Rolandas Paksas of the
Republic of Lithuania against whom an impeachment case has been
instituted with the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania"
subsequent to the 2 April 2004 request "On the Construction of
the Conclusion of the Constitutional Court" of the President of
the Republic Rolandas Paksas.
Justices of the Constitutional Court: Armanas Abramavičius
Egidijus Jarašiūnas
Egidijus Kūris
Kęstutis Lapinskas
Zenonas Namavičius
Augustinas Normantas
Jonas Prapiestis
Vytautas Sinkevičius
Stasys Stačiokas