1. Workload of courts and status of secondment of judges can be checked online
The website of the High Council of Justice (HCJ) provides information on:
• indicators of the workload of judges in a particular court in comparison with similar indicators in the region and in Ukraine;
• a number of judges seconded to courts with an excessive level of judicial workload.
An online map of the workload of courts and the secondment of judges is being filled.
Also function:
• temperature map, which contains information on the number of judges brought to disciplinary responsibility in different regions, the number of reports on interference at the location place of courts;
• interactive online map of appeals on court financing issues.
Released on August 17 due to the application for resignation:
• Pushai Volodymyr Ivanovych – from the position of judge of Skhidnyi economic court of appeal;
• Lobodiuk Vasyl Anatolyiiovych – from the position of judge of Novoaidarskyi district court of Luhansk region.
3. Regulation on the operation of the IJIS modules was approved
On August 17, the HCJ approved the Regulation on the operation of certain subsystems (modules) of the Integrated Judicial Information System.
The document defines:
• procedure for functioning in courts and bodies of the judiciary of certain subsystems (modules) of the IJIS, in particular, the subsystems “Electronic Cabinet”, “Electronic Court” and subsystems of video conferencing;
• procedure for performing procedural actions in electronic form using such subsystems;
• usage pattern of other software in courts and bodies of the judiciary in the transition period before the beginning of the operation of the IJIS as a part of all subsystems (modules).
IJIS modules begin to function in 30 days from the date of publication of the HCJ in the newspaper “Holos Ukrainy” and on the portal of the judiciary of the announcement of the creation and maintenance of the functioning of the relevant subsystem.
The judge of the Kamiansko-Dniprovskyi district court of Zaporizhzhia Region Vitalii Vasylchenko stated that during the court hearing the applicant put envelopes with cash in the amount of UAH 500 and UAH 2,000 on the tables of the court secretary and the presiding judge, explaining that she wanted to thank for the decision.
Considering the above, the HCJ decided to apply to the Office of the Prosecutor General to provide information on the disclosure and investigation of a crime in criminal proceedings under Part 3 of Article 369 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (offer, promise or provision of illegal benefit to an official).
5. Judge declared the wiretapping by the SSU - the HCJ demands to check employees
The HCJ states that there are grounds for contacting the Security Service of Ukraine regarding the need to investigate possible illegal actions of employees of the Security Service of Ukraine on the basis of the circumstances set forth in the report of Natalia Pohrebna, the judge of Artemivskyi local-district court of Donetsk Region, as well as to the Office of the Prosecutor General on the fact of illegal use of special technical means of obtaining information in the courtroom.
The judge said that two men in plainclothes entered her office, who introduced themselves as officers of the Security Service of Ukraine and inquired about the status of the criminal case in her proceeding. The judge also noted that on the same day she found a black electronic device attached with double-sided adhesive tape to the chair on which one of the men was sitting.
Judge of Zhovtnevyi district court of Kharkiv, Serhii Rubizhnyi, informed that together with the petition to terminate the civil proceedings, he received from the lawyer funds similar to fake, with a proposal to make the decision necessary for the defendant and with a promise to give him the larger amount in this case.
The HCJ decided to apply to the Office of the Prosecutor General to provide information on the disclosure and investigation of a crime in criminal proceedings under Part 1 of Article 376 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The HCJ also appealed to the Qualification and Disciplinary Commission of the Bar Association of Kharkiv Region to bring the lawyer to the statutory liability for committing actions that may have signs of interference in the activities of the judge.
It should be reminded that earlier the judge of the Kharkiv district court of Kharkiv region reported about counterfeit money in the lawyer's petition.
7. Procedure of secondment judges to Zakhidnyi economic court of appeal has begun
It was announced the secondment of one judge to the Western Economic Court of Appeal.
Judges who expressed the wish to be seconded to mentioned courts must submit to the High Council of Justice within ten days (from the date of the announcement of the beginning of the procedure for seconding judges) necessary documents. The list of such documents is here.
8. The term of consent providing by judges for secondment to four courts has been extended
Until August 27 judges can submit the HCJ documents for seconding to:
• Olevskyi district court of Zhytomyr region (1 judge)
• Babushkinskyi district court of Dnipropetrovsk (5 judges)
• Uman local-district court of Cherkasy region (2 judges)
• Kozivskyi district court of Ternopil region (1 judge).
9. Funding of the Court Security Service will not be reduced
The HCJ hosted a meeting of the interdepartmental working group to determine the priority of taking over the protection of court premises in the context of changing the system of local courts in connection with the formation (liquidation) of districts. The meeting was attended by members of the HCJ Pavlo Grechkivskyi, Volodymyr Hovorukha, Vitalii Salikhov and the Head of the Judicial Security Service Valerii Bondar.
The Head of the JSS informed that since the beginning of this year, the territorial departments of the Service have taken 104 courts under protection.
In total, today 572 bodies of the justice system (613 buildings) are under the protection of the Service, of which 516 are courts, accounting for 78% of their total number. In particular, 100% of objects are taken under protection in eight regions (Vinnytsia, Donetsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Luhansk, Lviv, Rivne, Ternopil) and in the city of Kyiv.