Opposition MPs In Ukraine Accuse Yushchenko Of Pressurising Constitutional Court

KIEV, Ukraine -- Rebel parliamentarians in Ukraine have broken into their Easter holidays to accuse President Viktor Yushchenko of pressurising judges to rubber stamp his dissolution of parliament.

Ukrainian Parliament
'We see the president's pressure on the constitutional court as one of the means of legitimatising the anti-government coup being carried out by reactionary forces,' deputies from the pro-Russian parliamentary majority said in a resolution, Interfax reported.

The resolution was endorsed by 256 deputies, meeting in an unscheduled session a week after what they have described as an illegal presidential decree to dissolve the legislature.

The constitutional court is this week due to consider the president's decree, which would require early elections for the 450-strong parliament in which pro-Russian forces headed by Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych have a majority.

In a combative Easter speech televised late Saturday, Yushchenko accused his opponents of trying to impose 'tyranny' and 'managed democracy' in Ukraine.

'My decision is legitimate and constitutional and there will be no going back,' Yushchenko said in his speech, delivered from outside the Saint Sophia church in central Kiev.

His rival Yanukovych also issued an Easter message posted on the government website Sunday in which he expressed confidence that the crisis 'will be successfully resolved through democracy and supremacy of the law.'

The crisis began April 2 when the president ordered the dissolution of parliament and elections on May 27.

This triggered a defiant response from the pro-Russian prime minister.

Tens of thousands of Yanukovych supporters have protested in the capital of the former Soviet republic over the past week and hundreds have kept up a round-the-clock vigil in a tent camp outside the parliament.

The European Union, Russia and the United States have all voiced concern, without explicitly taking sides.

The crisis comes after months of mounting tensions between Yanukovych, who favours strong ties with Russia, and Yushchenko, who came to power in 2005 promising closer relations with the West.

Source: Forbes