The Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court rejected the appeal of the ex-president and People's Deputy from "European Solidarity" Petro Poroshenko against the current President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi.
Since the end of last year, Poroshenko has been trying to cancel Presidential Decree No. 27 of January 23, 2023 "On some issues regarding crossing the state border of Ukraine under martial law." This document implemented the decision of the National Security and Defense Council, according to which the Cabinet of Ministers had to make changes to the rules for crossing the state border for civil servants, people's deputies, judges and prosecutors, allowing travel only on business trips.
Poroshenko believes that the decree violated his constitutional right to freely leave the territory of Ukraine. However, on December 1, 2023, the border guards did not allow him to go on a business trip to Poland and the USA to participate in the Summit of the International Democratic Union. The spokesman of the State Border Service of Ukraine (SPSU) Andrii Demchenko said that the ban on leaving was connected with the fact that the Verkhovna Rada canceled the trip of the People's Deputy.
In his lawsuit, Poroshenko noted that the border guards were guided by new changes that came into effect after the controversial presidential decree was issued.
The Supreme Court initially returned Poroshenko's lawsuit because he missed the deadline for challenging Zelenskyi's decree. According to the law, the period for appeal is six months from the moment of adoption of the document, which expired on July 25, 2023.
Disagreeing with this decision, Poroshenko appealed it in the Great Chamber of the Supreme Court. However, the court concluded that the decree of January 23, 2023 is an act of individual action that does not affect the rights of the plaintiff.
"The plaintiff's arguments that although the decree was not adopted directly in relation to Petro Poroshenko, but it concerns his rights and freedoms, as well as the statutory guarantees of the activity of people's deputies of Ukraine, are groundless," the court ruling says.
The court also emphasized that the incident with Poroshenko's travel ban in December 2023 is not the subject of this dispute. The resolution of the Grand Chamber entered into force on October 3 and is not subject to appeal.
