The High Council of Justice hosted a round table meeting on the topic “Activity of the judiciary under martial law: legal, personnel, economic challenges and ways to overcome them”.
Acting Chairman of the HCJ Vitalii Salikhov, members of the Council Oksana Blazhivska, Inna Plakhtii, Roman Maselko, Mykola Moroz, Dmytro Lukianov gathered to discuss topical issues with heads of cassation courts within the Supreme Court - Stanislav Kravchenko, Borys Gulko, Nina Tkachenko; Secretary of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court Larysa Rohach; Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andrii Smyrnov, Head of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Legal Policy Denys Maslov, People's Deputy of Ukraine Maxym Dyrdin, Head of the Council of Judges of Ukraine Bohdan Monich, heads of courts of appeal, Deputy Head of the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine Serhii Chornutskyi, Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine Oleksii Symonenko, Deputy Head of the General Department of countering systemic threats to state governance of the Security Service of Ukraine Andrii Lysiuk, Legal Advisor to the USAID Justice for All Program Anna Sukhova.
It was noted that during this year the judicial system faced not only severe challenges caused by aggression and war, but also the lack in these critical conditions of the authorized composition of the constitutional body of state power and judicial governance – the High Council of Justice. This makes it impossible to form the Service of disciplinary inspectors and carry out disciplinary proceedings against judges; exercising powers regarding: appointment of judges; dismissal of judges for general reasons; termination of resignation of judges (including for collaboration); giving consent to detain judges or hold them in custody or arrest; adoption of decisions on the temporary suspension of judges from the administration of justice in connection with criminal prosecution.
The issues of financing the judiciary, secondment of judges, responding to cases of collaboration, resuming the work of courts in deoccupied territories, conducting an independent audit of the IJIS, aspects of dual citizenship finding, and international cooperation were discussed.
The participants of the event emphasized that representatives of all branches of government should coordinate their activities and join efforts to develop a justice system that will meet people's demands.
They also expressed hope that the Congress of Judges, realizing the responsibility for the stable work of the judiciary, will delegate new members to the HCJ in January and its plenipotentiary membership will be restored.