[JURIST] Nearly 1,000 protesters continued demonstrations Monday outside the parliament building in central Kiev as the Constitutional Court of Ukraine [official website; Wikipedia backgrounder] prepared to hear a lawsuit [JURIST report] filed earlier this month by Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych [BBC profile] and leaders of the Ukrainian Parliament challenging the April 2 decree [statement] by Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko [official website; BBC profile] calling for the dissolution of parliament and ordering new elections to be held in May. The constitutional court is expected to begin hearing the case later this week. The demonstrations were relatively calm Monday as compared to occasionally violent protests last week.

Yushchenko has insisted that his dissolution decree was proper under the Ukrainian constitution [text, DOC]. Late last week, Yushchenko added that officials who refuse to comply with his decree could face criminal prosecution [press release; JURIST report]. AFP has more.