Who will be the judge?

The Constitutional Court was mentioned for the first time in August 2001, when it supposed to begin functioning in South Ossetia 15 years ago, the same time that the Constitution of South Ossetia, containing Article 8, “On the Constitutional Court of RSO, was passed.

But only now is this structure really being created. The other day the President of South Ossetia, Leonid Tibilov, signed the decree “On measures, envisaging the initial activity of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of South Ossetia.

Both the President’s political opponents and allies supported this step. In particular, Anatoly Bibilov, Parliament Chairman, belonging to the first group (opponents), stated that “This major court is necessary from a political point of view has now been set up in the republic. Zita Besayeva, belonging to the second MP group and representing “Nikhas party, claimed that during his election campaign Leonid Tibilov had pledged that the Constitutional Court would begin functioning and he kept his promise.

It is unknown up until now, when the Constitutional Court will begin being in session and where it will be located. Many issues, concerning how it will function, including the definition of the Constitutional Court’s powers, selection of its staff, etc. are still unclear.

A lot of recommendations and doubts, related to these issues, have came about within the society.

Funds

Zita Besayeva:

“There has always been a need for the Constitutional Court, but there have been no opportunities to create it – one should understand that personnel, a premises and salaries for its empoloyees are required for its operation. Leonid Tibilov signed the Decree on the Constitutional Court only after he had gained Russian approval for funding.

Powers

Anatoli Bibilov:

“This is not the end of the judicial reform. Everything should be put into order, including what the Constitutional Court is to consider and what issues are to be considered by the Supreme Court.

Timur Tskhurbati, a political analyst:

“It is the Constitutional Court that influences the country’s political system. Now that our Constitutional Court has been set up, we can hope that South Ossetia will soon outdo the USA in terms of standard of living.

 Timur Tskhurbati, a political analyst, says:

 ‘I am not a lawyer, nor an expert in this matters, but in all the countries that can boast of their high living standards and well-being of their population, a Constitutional Court does exist.

The lack of it has certainly discredited us in the world community’s eyes. Therefore, I consider it to be a positive move and I hope it will play the role it was intended to play.

The important thing for me is that no matter what our attitude towards the USA is, negative or positive, the fact is that the USA is the leading world power.

We may talk about the bipolarity of the world or any other thing, but it is still a unipolar one. The USA dominates it and it’s the Constitutional Court that helped form the USA’s political system.

Only the chosen ones got there, and it was impossible to re-elect them. They drew up the appropriate laws, and we can see this country thriving now.

I hope that South Ossetia will soon outdo the USA in terms of its standard of living.’

Professional staff

The Constitutional Court consists of five judges, who are elected for a ten-year term.

The President independently appoints two candidates and nominates a third candidate for Parliament consideration. The two other representative of the Constitutional Court are elected by the Parliament.

Alan Dzhussoev, a leader of the public-political movement “Our Choice-Ossetia:

“Interagency agreements bring forth a lot of discussions. The Constitutional Court will assess these documents, as well as the extent of how our contractual basis with RF and other countries corresponds to the Constitution. Our officials should become at least more competent and responsible and this, first and foremost, pertains the Interior Ministry, the Prosecutor’s Office, investigative bodies and local administrations.

Zita Besayeva:

“In my opinion, we can count on the lawyers who are thirty-five years and older, who have demonstrated good practices after graduating higher educational institutions.

Social network discussions:

“Old ramshackle personnel will be reshuffled to new seats. A new qualification collegium should be set up to understand the correspondence of the knowledge level of the Constitutional Court’s would-be members. This collegium should be an open process with TV involvement. Setting up such a court makes sense if there is this competence, rather than Turkey’s pomposity of shallow persons as is usually the case.

The opinions, expressed in this article convey the author’s views and terminology do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the editorial staff.

Published on: 22. 03. 2016