Federal Supreme Court: Holding the President accountable must be accompanied by a law passed by the Council of Representatives

    The Federal Supreme Court has confirmed that the exercise of its powers to hold the President accountable for the charges against him must be accompanied by the passage of a law by the Council of Representatives regulating this process as stipulated in the Iraqi Constitution.

"The court heard a constitutional case brought by a former member of the Najaf Governorate Council against both the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister/ being in their capacities and the Speaker of the Council of Representatives," said a statement issued by the Information Office of the Federal Supreme Court.

"The plaintiff requested to judge by unconstitutionality of Resolution 333, issued by the Council of Ministers on 8 September 2015, which he considered to fall within the Legislative jurisdiction of the Council of Representatives," the statement said.

"The plaintiff has assigned the President of the Republic/ being in this capacity not to address the decision in question, and considers him to have given up his duties and swore oaths," he said, adding that "the court finds in this aspect that the exercise of its jurisdiction to dismiss any accusation attributed to the President of the Republic/ being in this capacity shall be in accordance with article 93/6^th of the Constitution."

"The exercise of this jurisdiction depends on the issuance of a law regulating dismissal procedures in such cases in light of the provisions of article 61/6^th/Beh of the Constitution, and without the passage of this law, the jurisdiction of the Federal Supreme Court in accounting remains inoperable, as confirmed in its decision of 13 June 2017," the statement said.

The statement went on to say that "the court found in the plaintiff's assignment to the defendant the Speaker of the Council of Representatives/ being in this capacity to give up his legislative role, and the court replied that the Council of Representatives issued a decision on 16 August 2015 in the number (15) that included the ratification of the decision of the Council of Ministers referred to and the reform package, and was conditioned on its approval of the Constitution and the law, and that this does not mean a mandate for any of its legislative powers."

"The Court has indicated that the plaintiff's appeal of the Decision of the Council of Ministers is outside its powers under article (93) of the Constitution and Article (4) of Its Law No. (30) Of 2005, where that decision is one of the administrative decisions that other judicial bodies consider the appeals contained in it, and therefore decided to dismiss the case," the statement said.