1. HCJ approved changes to the USRCD to ensure access to court decisions
The HCJ approved amends to the Procedure of maintaining the Unified state register of court decisions, according to which it is not allowed to restrict or postpone the general access to electronic resources of the Register for reasons other than those determined by the laws of Ukraine “On access to court decisions”, “On state secret” and the Procedure itself.
By the notification of the UNBA, the administrator of the USRCD allows actions to restrict access to court decisions on the basis of appeals of prosecutors, which does not comply with current legislation.
The HCJ decided to make appropriate amends to the USRCD and expand possibilities of usage court decisions for the establishment of judicial practice and improving the appeal procedure.
2. Oleh Prudivus: The staff shortage in the courts is not just a problem, it is almost a catastrophe
The Selection Commission that conducts the selection of candidates for the position of HQCJU member, has to activate its work for speeding up the resumption of the selection of judges. This was emphasized in the video commentary by HCJ member Oleh Prudivus.
“At present, the number of judges administering justice in Ukraine is only 65% of the approved number of full-time positions of judges. There is a lack of more than two thousand judges”, – he said. As of today, in almost a third of the general local courts, the number of judges with the power to administer justice is only 50% or less (in accordance with the staff number). In more than 60 local general courts, only one judge administers justice. Six courts do not function at all.
“The situation, without exaggeration, is terrible – judges have an inhuman workload… People cannot resolve elementary issues for years neither in courts of the first instance nor appellate courts, where it is difficult to form panels due to the lack of judges. Due to the lack of judges in appellate courts, it is difficult to appeal decisions. In conditions of staff shortages, in many cases it is impossible to get a decision in time or to appeal it”, – noted HCJ member.
According to Oleh Prudivus, this problem must be solved immediately, after all, judges do not physically withstand the load and many of them leave their positions, although in acceptable conditions they could work for a long time.
3. HCJ extended the term of temporary suspension of judge of the Chernihiv circuit administrative court Dmytro Loban from administering justice
On December 31, 2021, the HCJ decided to satisfy the petition of the Prosecutor General and to extend the term of temporary suspension of judge of the Chernihiv circuit administrative court Loban Dmytro Viktorovych from administering justice due to bringing him to criminal liability.
The term has been extended until March 1, 2022.
The judge was notified about the suspicion of committing this criminal offense on November 10, 2021. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine is currently conducting a pre-trial investigation.
By the decision of the investigating judge of the High Anti-Corruption Court of December 24, 2021, the term of the pre-trial investigation in the criminal proceedings was extended until April 10, 2022.
4. HCJ provided the Selection Commission on selection candidates to the HQCJU with premises for work
In order to ensure conditions of work of the Selection Commission on selection candidates to the position of member of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine, the High Council of Justice entered with the HQCJU into a lease agreement for property owned by the state. Members of the Selection Commission will work in cabinets, situated on the premises of the HQCJU.
The Selection Commission informed the HCJ that the first official meeting will be held on January 21, 2022.
It should be reminded that the HCJ Secretariat provides the organizational and material and technical activity of the Selection Commission.