Five of the 18 judges on the Ukrainian constitutional court made a dramatic statement alleging dirty tricks and asking for bodyguards before they start considering the legality of President Yushchenko’s decree on early parliamentary elections, the AFP news agency reported.

The court was to start its hearing into the decree on Wednesday, but later announced that it would be delayed. It did not say when the hearing would be delayed to.

“Gross pressure has been applied,” judge Volodymyr Kampo told journalists, reading from a joint statement that indirectly pointed the finger at the leader of the parliamentary rebellion, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich.

“To guarantee our security we ask to be given state protection,” the statement said.

Yushchenko and Yanukovych met for talks but the political enemies refused to retreat. The president “is convinced that a compromise … is only possible on condition of early elections”, the president’s office said in a statement after the meeting.

Thousands of Yanukovich supporters continued to demonstrate in central Kiev for a second week.

The president’s party, Our Ukraine, which has so far failed to bring its supporters onto the streets, announced yesterday a major demonstration today in support of early elections.

In a further sign of tensions, Deputy Interior Minister Viktor Suslov told the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily that “extremist political forces are planning to cause confrontations to undermine the meeting of the constitutional court and to encourage the president to introduce a state of emergency”.

The current crisis is rooted in the events of the winter of 2004-2005 when Yanukovich’s defeat of Yushchenko in a presidential race was overturned amid huge demonstrations dubbed the “Orange Revolution”. Yushchenko then won the re-run.

The political battle being played out in Kiev has already been characterised by accusations of unfair, even criminal tactics.

Yushchenko’s supporters claim that Yanukovich’s Regions Party has offered huge bribes to lure Our Ukraine members of parliament, further weakening the president’s power base.

Now focus is turning increasingly to the constitutional court, which comprises six judges chosen by the president, six chosen by parliament and six by the legal community.
The court agreed to rule on the dispute at the request of Yanukovich supporters in parliament.

A decision that Yushchenko’s decree dissolving parliament was illegal would deliver a severe blow to the president’s credibility, although a favourable ruling would put the rebel parliamentarians on the spot.

Those speaking out yesterday included three Yushchenko appointees, one judge appointed by parliament and one from the legal community.

Their statement alleged that: “Public threats against judges on the constitutional court (and) the pressure on them from certain political forces to intimidate them and to politicise their activity… does not allow legitimate ruling to be reached.”

“Certain politicians say the decree was unconstitutional, but only the constitutional court has the right” to rule, the statement said.

Any delay to the court’s work would shrink the potential campaign time ahead of elections the president has set for May 27, ratcheting up the pressure on both sides.

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