Judge of the Kominternivskyi district court of Kharkiv Iryna Zelinska notified about the fact of discovering a forged court decision.
After checking the circumstances, notified by the judge, the High Council of Justice decided to address the Prosecutor General Office regarding providing information on the disclosure and investigation of a crime in criminal proceeding entered into the Unified register of pretrial investigations pursuant to part one of Article 376 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - interference in the professional activity of a judge.
Nine judges resigned
The HCJ decided to dismiss nine judges due to filing of applications for resignation, namely:
Vladymyrska Iryna Mykolaivna – from the office of the judge of the Selydivskyi city court of Donetsk region;
Orieshkina Elina Valeriivna – from the office of the judge of the Tsentralnyi appellate commercial court;
Chyshii Stepan Stepanovych – from the office of the judge of the Liubomlskyi district court of Volyn region;
Vynychenko Liubov Mykolaivna – from the office of the judge of the Dniprovskyi district court of Kyiv;
Vasylchuk Olena Vasylivna – from the office of the judge of the Baranivskyi district court of Zhytomyr region;
Melnyk Volodymyr Vasyliovych – from the office of the judge of the Third appellate administrative court;
Morozova Iryna Vasylivna – from the office of the judge of the Malynovskyi district court of Odesa;
Miruta Olha Anatoliivna – from the office of the judge of the Donetsk appellate court;
Fulha Aliona Petrivna – from the office of the judge of the Mykolaiv circuit administrative court.
HCJ temporary suspended from administering justice judge Oleksii Tandyr
On August 29, 2023, the High Council of Justice decided to temporarily suspend judge of the Makarivskyi district court of Kyiv region Oleksii Tandyr from administering justice due to bringing him to criminal liability until the verdict’s entering into force or closing of the criminal proceeding on charges of committing a criminal offense.
HCJ postponed the restoration of work of the Bilozerskyi district court of Kherson region
The High Council of Justice during its session on August 31, 2023, made a decision to postpone the beginning of work of the Bilozerskyi district court of Kherson region till October 1, 2023.
The Kherson city court of Kherson region will continue the consideration of cases till September 30, 2023, inclusive.
On September 4, 2023, the High Council of Justice returned the first Deputy Prosecutor General without consideration the request for continuation of the temporary suspension term of the judge of the Yakymivskyi district court of Zaporizhzhia region Fedorets Svitlana Volodymyrivna (seconded to the Zvenyhorodskyi district court of Cherkasy region) from administering justice due to bringing her to criminal liability because of non-compliance by the prosecutor's office with the requirements of the law, namely, missing the established term.
Members of the High Council of Justice and representatives of the Council of Europe discussed problems of Ukraine's implementation of decisions of the European Court of Human Rights and the exercise of supervision by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe regarding particularly important issues, in particular such as the issuance of "pilot decisions", as well as issues related to systemic, structural or complex problems.
Members of the High Council of Justice together with the experts from the Venice Commission and Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe (DG-1) discussed the draft law “On amending the Law of Ukraine “On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges” as regards the introduction of additional procedures to enhance public trust in the judiciary” (registry No. 9454). The meeting was held online on September 4, 2023, to prepare a joint opinion by European experts regarding this normative act.
The opinion will be prepared by the results of meetings of international experts with HCJ members and the Verkhovna Rada Committee on legal policy and is planned to be published at the beginning of October.
Activity of the HCJ Secretariat in figures during January-August 2023
During January–August 2023, employees of the High Council of Justice Secretariat considered 4747 citizens’ appeals and 406 requests for information;
During the telephone conversation, citizens were provided with referential consultations and answers within the scope of the powers of the High Council of Justice. For this period 2575 appeals from citizens were received to the HCJ hotline at the telephone number: (044) 481-06-26. During
Employees of the HCJ Secretariat prepared 1611 cover letters on sending copies of the acts of the HCJ and its bodies, issued 3829 copies of the acts of the HCJ, its bodies and members of the HCJ, edited 14 500 pages of draft documents of the HCJ.
During January - August 2023, on the official website of the High Council of Justice 1726 HCJ acts, 1,690 other documents, and 377 news were published; 870 informational materials are posted on the HCJ social networks.
246 judges resigned for eight months of 2023
During January – August 2023, the High Council of Justice made decisions on dismissal 246 judges on general grounds.
On general grounds 241 judges were dismissed. 225 judges were dismissed due to filing of their applications for resignation.
16 judges were dismissed due to filing applications for dismissal by their own will.
On special grounds the High Council of Justice dismissed 5 judges, namely for committing a significant disciplinary offense.
During January – August, 2023, the High Council of Justice made 8 decisions on granting its consent for taking a judge into custody, and 10 decisions on the satisfaction of requests of the Prosecutor General’s Office for temporary suspension or continuation of the suspension term of a judge from administering justice until entering into force of the court verdict or closing of the criminal proceeding, and 5 decisions on the partial satisfaction of mentioned requests.
Members of the High Council of Justice discussed with the expert of the Council of Europe Project “Support to the functioning of justice in the war and post-war context in Ukraine” Mykhailo Buromenskyi an issue of ambiguous interpretation of the concepts of "integrity" and "ethics" as legal categories for formulating requirements for the moral qualities of judges and candidates for the position of a judge.
Deputy Chairman of the HCJ Dmytro Lukianov explained that the "integrity" criteria is determined by many subjects. Different competition commissions develop different rules and criteria. For example, competitions for judicial positions will be held in the near future, and the requirements for candidates to fill these positions are being developed by the Public Integrity Council, the HQCJU, the HCJ. Apart from that, international experts who apply criteria in accordance with international standards are included in some competitions for filling positions in other judicial bodies. This creates unpredictability for candidates. Therefore, in order to overcome this problem, it is necessary to define the components of integrity and ethics, to realize and form unified criteria in the entire chain of legal relations.
HCJ members noted that regarding this issue, a generalization of the Council's practice is currently under preparation. At the same time, within the scope of cooperation with the EU Project, they expressed interest in the generalization of the judicial practice of the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights regarding the definition of integrity and judicial ethics criteria.
On September 7, 2023, the High Council of Justice decided to make a submission to the President of Ukraine on appointment PARKHOMENKO Pavlo Ivanovych to the position of the judge of the Civil Cassation Court within the Supreme Court.
During January – August, 2023, the High Council of Justice received 110 notifications on interference in the professional activity of judges regarding administering justice on actions that violate safeguards of independence of judges or undermine the authority of justice.
Taking into account notifications that were filed in previous periods, the HCJ has considered 154 notifications of judges since the beginning of the year.
By the results of consideration of 70 notifications on interference in the activity of judges, 67 decisions on taking response measures were made.
Mediation Communication Strategy presented
During the presentation, a business and public communications expert Ivetta Delikatna talked about the challenges and tasks of mediation communication, results of a situational analysis of the context and media field, as well as a survey of stakeholders and target groups, visual identity of the service, recommended formats and communication channels of mediation.
Oleksandr Sasevych, Oksana Blazhivska and Alla Kotelevets represented the High Council of Justice during the event.