Serhiy Petrovych Holovatyi is a former acting chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.
Place of Birth, Education
He was born on May 29, 1954 in the city of Odesa.
In 1977 he graduated from Taras Shevchenko Kyiv State University, having received a higher education in International Law.
He has a doctorate in law.
Career
In 1971 – 1972 he worked at a bakery in the city of Smila, Cherkasy region. In 1977 – 1980s he studied at the postgraduate school of Taras Shevchenko Kyiv State University.
From 1980 to 1990 he worked at the Institute of Social and Economic Problems of Foreign Countries of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR.
In 1983 – 1986 he held the position of Professor of the Department of International Law and Foreign Legislation at Taras Shevchenko University, and in 2011-2013 he taught at the Department of Theory of Law of the same educational institution.
In 1992, he became the president of the All-Ukrainian Charitable Foundation “Ukrainian Legal Foundation”.
In the 2000s and early 2010s, Holovaty was actively engaged in scientific activities abroad. At different times he was a member of:
- Commission for the elaboration of the draft of the new Constitution of Ukraine;
- the National Constitutional Council;
- the Ukrainian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE);
- Venice Commission, where in 1997-2001 he served as Vice-President and Member of the Bureau, and in 2010-2013 he represented the PACE.
In 1995-1997 and 2005-2006, he served as Minister of Justice of Ukraine. During his tenure, he was a member of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC).
In 2015-2017, he worked as an adviser to the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, advising on issues related to the Constitution.
In 2018, according to the results of the competition, he was appointed a judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. Later, he took the position of deputy chairman of the court. In December 2020, he began acting as chairman of the Constitutional Court after the removal of the previous head Oleksandr Tupytskyi by the decision of the President of Ukraine.
In May 2024, Holovatyi’s powers as a judge of the Constitutional Court ended due to his reaching the age of 70. After that, he began teaching, becoming a professor at the Kyiv School of Economics.
Political Activities
In 1977, Holovaty became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, but in 1990 he was expelled from it due to joining the socio-political organization “People’s Movement of Ukraine”.
During his political career, he was elected People’s Deputy of Ukraine several times :
- in 1990, 1994 and 1998;
- in 2002, representing the “Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc”;
- in 2006 from the “Our Ukraine” bloc;
- in 2007 as a candidate from the Party of Regions.
