KIEV, May 1 ??“ President Viktor Yushchenko on Tuesday dismissed the judge of the Constitutional Court that is under corruption investigation for allegedly receiving a gift worth $12 million from undisclosed entities.

Susanna Stanik, who had been appointed to the court by then-President Leonid Kuchma in 2004, was the key figure in deliberations over the legality of the presidential decree that had dissolved Parliament.

Stanik??™s dismissal came a day after Yushchenko had fired Valeriy Pshenychniy, the deputy chairman of the Constitutional Court who had been also appointed by Kuchma.

Pshenychniy and Stanik have made a number of comments during the deliberations showing they have been supporting pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych in his stand-off with pro-Western Yushchenko.

The president had ???a number of reasons??? to dismiss the judges, Mykola Poludionniy, Yushchenko??™s legal advisor, said. ???These are the issues of political statements, the issues of conduct that are not compatible with the status of the judge, the failure to follow the law.???

The dismissals are the latest in the political standoff between Yushchenko and Yanukovych. The moves suggest that the Constitutional Court will probably not be able to issue any ruling on the ongoing constitutional crisis and will probably encourage political figures to find a political compromise.

Stanik and Pshenychniy denied any wrongdoing and appealed to the Prosecutor General??™s Office complaining that the presidential decrees were illegal.

Meanwhile, the pro-Russian government coalition, which refuses to follow Yushchenko??™s decrees that had dismissed Parliament, will probably Wednesday call on the judges to ignore the decrees.

???We will call on these judges not to implement the decrees,??? Vasyl Kyseliov, a lawmaker and a spokesman for the pro-government Regions Party, told Channel 5 on Tuesday. ???This is the war of laws. Every presidential decree will have our reaction.???

SBU, the country??™s security service, is currently investigating a number of suspicious transactions as a result of which Stanik??™s 74-year old mother had apparently received $12 million in property and real estate over the past two years.

SBU apparently suspects that the transactions by undisclosed companies and peple have been used to bribe Stanik. The Justice Ministry, controlled by the coalition, refused to cooperate with the SBU in the investigation.

The presidential office has earlier accused Pshenychniy of illegally authorizing Stanik to handle the case of Yushchenko??™s decree that had dissolved Parliament on April 2. Pshenychniy apparently bypassed Ivan Dombrovskiy, the chairman of the court, while ordering Stanik to handle the case.

Pshenychniy was also accused by Yushchenko??™s office of disclosing on April 17 the names of judges and their vote record on the case during the deliberations. This apparently breaches the oath of the judge, a reason that had been used by Yushchenko to fire Pshenychniy. (tl/ez)