SEPARATION OF POWERS, DUSHANBE-STYLE.

Tajik president Imomali Rahmonov has appointed the incumbent chairman of the country’s Constitutional Court, Homiddin Sharipov, to the position of head of the presidential staff. Sharipov retains the Constitutional Court chairmanship until further notice, according to Rahmonov’s chief spokesman. (Interfax, April 19) The measure is part of a wider picture testifying to the uncertain status of constitutional courts in a number of former Soviet republics. In Russia, Belarus, and Moldova for example, state presidents have variously attempted — with some success — to restrict the courts’ independence, subject them to political pressure, and ignore or flout court verdicts which found the presidents in violation of their respective constitutions.

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