DRAFT BY THE
COMMISSARIAT OF ABKHAZIA. CONSTITUTION of the autonomous Abkhazia
General provisions
1.
Abkhazia enters the Democratic Republic of Georgia as autonomous entity;
it is independent in the sphere of legislation and management if otherwise is not
provided by this Constitution.
2. The official language on the
3.
Abkhazia shall have Representation at the parliament of
4. The deputies from Abkhazia at the Parliament
of Georgia shall be elected on the basis of universal,
equal and direct suffrage by a secret ballot; Abkhazia represents the separate
electoral district.
5. Plenipotentiary representative on Abkhaz
Affairs shall be present at the Government of Georgia.
6. Plenipotentiary representative of the
Government of Georgia shall be present at the Abkhaz Government.
7. Abkhazia shall exercise its autonomous
rights in the sphere of legislation through the Abkhaz People’s Council and in the
sphere of management – through the Commissariat of Abkhazia.
8. The common affairs of state importance of
Georgia and Abkhazia shall be within the competence of the Parliament and
Government of Georgia; the other affairs in the sphere of legislation, as well
as of internal management shall be exclusively under the competence of the
People’s Council and the Government of Abkhazia.
9. The
affairs of state importance are as follows:
a) Criminal, civil and common social law.
b) Foreign affairs; trade agreements with the
foreign countries.
c) Currency system and state finances.
d) Customs affairs.
e) Post and telegraph.
f) Army.
g) Judiciary.
h) Railway.
10. The
issues of foreign affairs that concern the direct interests of the Autonomous Abkhazia
shall be agreed between Georgia and Abkhazia.
11. Georgia and Abkhazia represent common
customs and trade territory with the common customs border and unified customs
duties.
12. The military forces in Abkhazia shall be
formed on the common basis with
13. Expenditures and revenues for the common
affairs and for the managing organiza2) to decide the issues relating to the
loans, taxes, duties, uncollected fees of the Autonomous Abkhazia;
14. Autonomous Abkhazia is independent in other
affairs; the following affairs shall be within the authority of its legislative
and governmental institutions:
a) legislation on
every issue, except of those provided for in Article 9 (a),
also the legislation on the issues that are not in
contradiction with the common-state laws;
b) local agrarian
legislation;
c) local finances
(budget, cash-flow, taxes, taxation, loans and others);
d) management of state
property and natural resources of Abkhazia;
e) public education;
f) agencies of local self-governance (district and city);
g) Mediator judges;
h) administration;
i) health care and
sanitary;
j) roads of local
importance, granting concession to them and others.
About legislative power
15. The People’s Council of Abkhazia is the
legislative organ of the Autonomous Abkha- zia, which shall be elected on the basis
of universal, equal, direct and proportional suffrage by secret ballot for a
term of 2 years; A citizen, who attained the age of 20, has the right to vote.
16. The
People’s Council shall adopt the Electoral Law on the basis of previous Article
and determine the number of deputies.
17. The
People’s Council shall determine the composition of the Presidium and follow
the guidelines elaborated by the Council.
18. The People’s Council
of Abkhazia shall examine the legitimacy of the elected deputies and approve
the election results.
19. The People’s Council
of Abkhazia is inviolable and no government has the right to dissolve it; but
the Council may adopt the decision on its pre-term dissolution and on holding
the new elections.
20. The
members of the People’s Council shall not be prosecuted on the account of the
ideas and opinions expressed by them while performing their duties.
21.
Arrest of a member of Council shall be permissible only by the consent
of the Legislative Assembly, except in the cases when he/she is caught flagrante
delicto.
22. The members of the council may be brought
to the court only upon the decision made by the Council and the proceedings
shall be carried out in accordance of the court’s jurisdiction.
23. The
remuneration for the members of the Council shall be determined by law.
24. The
members of the Council shall not be authorized to take the office upon
appointment of the Government.
25. The
members of the Government may attend the sessions of the People’s Council and
participate in discussions, but they participate in the voting only if they are
the members of the Council.
26.
Sittings of the Council shall be public; the Council shall be entitled
to declare a sitting thereof closed while discussing a particular issue.
27. No
one shall have the right to enter the session hall, either the building of the Abkhaz People’s
Council with the fire-arm. The guards
and military forces may be invited upon decision of the Council, or, in special
circumstances – under the decree issued by the Presidium.
28. The
following issues fall within the authority of the People’s Council of Abkhazia:
1) to discuss and
approve the draft-law;
2) to decide the
issues relating to the loans, taxes, duties, uncollected fees of the Autonomous
Abkhazia;
3) to discuss and
approve the budget;
4) to discuss the
report on budget implementation;
5) to elect the
Chairman of the Commissariat of Abkhazia;
6) to decide the
issues relating to the alienation of state property and expropriation of
private property for the state needs;
7) also the affairs and issues that Council considers to retain
under its authority and denies to transfer them to the Government.
29. The
legislative initiative is the authority of the Abkhaz Government and the
People’s Council of Abkhazia.
30. The
draft-laws and the proposals shall be submitted by the relevant government
members to the Council. Each deputy also
may submit the draft-law or proposal to the Council, but it shall be signed by
five members of the Council.
31. The
draft-law or proposal may be revoked if there was no final voting on it.
32. None of the draft-laws or proposals
completely rejected by the People’s Council shall be submitted again without
changes during the same session.
33. The sitting of the People’s Council is
legitimate if more than a half of its members are present.
34. Decision of the People’s Council shall be
adopted by the simple majority except the issues on changing the Constitution.
35. In case of equal number of votes the
proposed draft-law shall be considered rejected.
36. The budget shall be submitted to the People’s
Council for discussion every year within the terms specified by the
Council, which actually determines the start of the budgetary year.
37. If
for some reason the budget is not discussed at the beginning of a fiscal year,
the previous budget shall remain in force.
38. None
of the loans of the Autonomous Abkhazia shall be concluded without consent of
the People’s Council.
39. The
first sitting of the people’s Council shall be held within two weeks after the
elections organized by the Commissariat; the People’s Council shall be convened
for a new session by the Presidium of the previous session.
40. In
case of emergency between the session terms the Commissariat of Abkhazia is
authorized to convene the extraordinary session.
41. All
of the laws adopted by the People’s Council of Abkhazia, as well as the laws
adopted by the Parliament of Georgia on the common-state affairs shall be
published in the official gazette of the People’s Council and come into force
within a week after it has been published unless the term of entry is otherwise
defined.
Executive power
42. The supreme executive organ of Abkhazia
shall be the Commissariat of Abkhazia, which is accountable to the People’s
Council and its composition shall be determined by the People’s Council.
43. The Commissariat of Abkhazia shall be set
up by a person, who is elected by The People’s Council of Abkhazia l and
enters the Commissariat as its Chairman.
44. The Commissars of Abkhazia are accountable
for their performance and instructions.
45. The
supreme representatives of executive power and the public servants take an oath
on dedication to the Constitution before taking the position in a form
specified for.
46.
Appointment, replacement and dismissal of local public authorities shall
be carried out by the Commissariat of Abkhazia, and for the common-state officials
– by the Government of Georgia but under the consent of the Commissariat of
Abkhazia.
47. The
members of the Commissariat of Abkhazia are accountable only to the People’s
Council of Abkhazia.
48.
Every public official is liable to the criminal and civil law for the
offenses committed by them while performing their duties.
About judiciary (courts)
49. The
judiciary function shall be carried out by persons and organizations that are
not subordinate to the executive power; the judges are irremovable unless
otherwise is specified by law. It’s
inadmissible to combine administrative and judiciary functions in one
institution or in one person.
Rights and responsibilities of citizens
50.
Every citizen of Abkhazia is equal to the law and no one has the right
to violate the law or justify his/her action on the ground of not knowing the
law.
51. Any privilege or restriction relating to
the social belonging, sex, ethnic origin and religion, as well as the ranks and
decorations are annulled.
52.
Everyone arrested in the cities of Abkhazia or other places where the
judicial power is established shall be brought before competent court within 24
hours, and if a person in arrested in other places – within 3 days; if the
court fails to adjudicate upon the detention, the individual shall immediately
be released.
53. The
citizens shall have the right to freedom of assembly and association, as well
as of free movement, trade and entrepreneurial activity according the rules
provided for by the laws of Abkhazia.
54.
Every citizen shall have the right to freedom of conscience; no one
shall be persecuted for religious convictions.
55. Everyone’s life and place of residence
shall be inviolable. No one shall be subject of arrest or search otherwise than
it is specified for by the law.
56. The
personal correspondence shall be inviolable.
57.
Everyone shall have the right to freedom of speech, press and petition.
58. The
law on citizenship, as well as the conditions and rules for acquisition of the
right to citizenship shall be under the competence of the People’s Council of
Abkhazia.
59. In
case of discord between the
Abkhaz People’s Council and the Parliament and Government of
Georgia in application of this Constitution to the common-state affairs, the
issue shall be submitted to the conciliating commission, which consists of the
equal number of representatives of the Parliament of Georgia and the People’s
Council of Abkhazia. The decision
adopted by the mixed Commission shall be submitted to the Parliament of Georgia
and the Abkhaz
People’s Council for approval.
60. The representative of the Government of
Georgia shall have authorization at the Government of Abkhazia if he/she
foresees the violation of this Constitution in proposals and draft-laws
submitted to the Abkhaz People’s Council
in prejudice of the Republic of Georgia; his/her arguments shall be submitted
to the Council. If the Council fails to
reach the agreement, the issue shall be submitted to the Commission pursuant to
the rule provided for in Article 59. The
decisions adopted by the Council shall not come into force unless such
procedure is completed.
Revision, changing and approval of
the Constitution.
61. The
Constitution may be revised at any time, in whole or partially.
62. The
partial revision of the Constitution shall be considered as changing or
annulment of one or more Articles, or adding the new provision; the revision of
the whole of Constitution
represents its replacement by the new Constitution.
63. The
partial revision of the Constitution shall be carried out though the normal
legislative procedures upon the request of five deputies of the People’s
Council of three thousand electors; the initiators of the revision shall submit
the draft of general comments on the changing of Constitution.
64. The
revision of the whole Constitution shall be carried out upon the request of not
less than 10 members of the People’s Council or six thousand electors. The public initiative may be submitted in a
form of general comments or in a detailed draft.
65. The
issue on the revision of the Constitution shall be decided at the sitting of
the People’s Council attended not less than 2/3 of its members and it shall be
deemed to be adopted if 2/3 of present members endorse it.
Concluding provisions
66. The
draft-Constitution adopted by the People’s Council shall be submitted to the
conciliating commission pursuant to the rule provided for in Article 59; it
shall come into force after the Parliament of Georgia, as well as the Abkhaz People’s Council has approved the
decision adopted by the conciliating commission.
67. The
provisions of the Constitution of the Autonomous Abkhazia, upon endorsement by the Abkhaz People’s
Council and the Constituent Assembly of Georgia, shall be included in the
Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Georgia.
68. None of the laws, resolutions or decrees
that contravene to the Constitutional provisions shall be published by anyone
and they may not have any legal force in Abkhazia.
The head of Chancellery of the People’s Council
of Abkhazia: signed
Round Seal of the People’s Council of Abkhazia
(
(Avtandil Menteshashvili,
Historical Preconditions of the Current Separatism in Georgia. Tb. 1998, p. 82-89/in Russian)