Instead of a republican constitutional court, a constitutional chamber will appear in Tatarstan

Tatarstan, following three more national republics (Yakutia, Adygeya, Bashkiria), is going to use the right to establish a constitutional chamber (KP). The KP will replace the abolished Constitutional Court (CC) of the republic. It will continue to exercise control over the normative legal acts of the republic, but only as a public body, Farhat Khusnutdinov, chairman of the Constitutional Court of Tatarstan, told Vedomosti.

This means that the decisions of the chamber will be advisory in nature, and not binding, he said. Most likely, the chamber will be formed under the state council (parliament) of the republic. “But the final decision has not yet been made on which body it will be or whether it will be an independent body,” says Khusnutdinov.

According to him, the deputies of parliament will return to consideration of this issue next year – the legislative registration of the chamber will begin no earlier than the first quarter of 2023. By that time, the issue of the name of the post of president of Tatarstan should be resolved. This is expected to happen at the final session of the State Council on December 23.

Khusnutdinov explained the delay in the establishment of the KP by the special situation in the country due to the special operation in Ukraine. “Now is not the best time,” he explained.

The bill on the creation of the Communist Party in the parliament of the republic has not yet been developed, Vedomosti was told in two relevant committees of the State Council. “So far, no such instruction has been received,” said a source in the office of the Committee on Urban Planning and Local Self-Government. They do not know anything about him and the Ministry of Justice of the Republic. But Farid Mukhametshin, speaker of parliament, spoke out earlier in support of the initiative.

“All subjects speak with great regret about the decision of the federal center <...> Now the burden will increase on law enforcement agencies, courts of general jurisdiction and the prosecutor’s office. There, too, some of the employees who were in charge of control over regional laws were laid off. Not every citizen of Tatarstan will be able to go to St. Petersburg to protect their rights. [председателю КС России Валерию] Zorkin and others,” Mukhametshin said.

The Constitutional Court of Tatarstan was formed in 2000 on the basis of the provisions of the republican constitution. For 22 years, 109 decisions were made on citizens’ complaints. The workload, as in many other regions, was small: five cases a year. Another 42 complaints were denied consideration. Not a single normative act of the authorities of the republic was recognized as inconsistent with the constitution and canceled. Only on one complaint of a Kazan citizen against the decisions of the executive committee of the regional capital, the judges abstained from making a decision, it follows from the materials of the Constitutional Court.

“Charters of regions are not a constitution [республики]. National formations have a special status, a special statehood, although they do not have sovereignty. National republics have their own constitution, around which local legislation is built. Therefore, a body is needed that would deal with issues of compliance with the local constitution. It is clear that it does not diverge from the Russian Constitution, but formally it exists,” explains a source close to the parliament of the republic.

It is assumed that the KP will carry out a preliminary check of the republican laws for their compliance with the constitution of Tatarstan before they are adopted, and not after approval. “Of course, some form of constitutional oversight will continue,” the source said.

The main constitutional conflict now lies in the name of the post of President of the Republic of Tatarstan, say the source of Vedomosti in the government of the region. The federal legislator is calling for it to be abolished.

Before its permission, the parliament will not be able to launch a bill on the Communist Party, the source said. Perhaps this will happen at the final session of the state council of the republic on December 23 this year, he admits.

Farid Mukhametshin will report on the results of the work of the republican parliament in 2022, the press service of the parliament reported on December 16. It is possible that “the agenda can be significantly supplemented already at the very meeting of the State Council with issues that are currently being worked on by the relevant committees,” the press service said.

“Certainly create [конституционную] a ward is possible, but what will it be [ее] practical value? – doubts the ex-Minister of Justice of the Republic Midkhat Kurmanov (represented her interests in lawsuits to bring republican laws in line with federal law in the Supreme Court of Russia). Under the current constitutional court, his decisions were secondary to federal acts, he notes.

“Back in 2004, the Constitutional Court gave its interpretation of Article 1 of the republic’s constitution, according to which Tatarstan is an associated member of the Russian Federation in accordance with an agreement with it. But they stepped over it,” he recalled. With the abolition of constitutional courts, the regions lost their third power – the judiciary. “On the other hand, the subjects themselves were not interested in this. Of the 89 regions, they were created only in 16, Kurmanov notes. Moreover, some were liquidated before the start of the constitutional reform in 2020,” he argues.

Tatarstan was the last of the 16 constituent entities of the Federation, which had a constitutional (or statutory) court in the power structure, decided to liquidate it in November this year. In November 2020, amendments were made to the federal constitutional law “On the Judicial System of the Russian Federation”, according to which these courts must be abolished by January 1, 2023.

At the same time, the regions were given the right to create constitutional (statutory) councils at legislative assemblies. On December 15, the State Assembly of Bashkiria has already appointed the head of the constitutional council of the republic – it was Khaidar Valeev, who was deputy chairman of the Constitutional Court of the republic.

Most likely, Moscow will react calmly to the creation of constitutional councils and chambers, political analyst Ilya Grashchenkov believes. National republics are trying to preserve their identity through their constitution, and this opportunity is provided to them, the expert says.