HCJ gave its consent on taking into custody judges of the Kyiv court of appeal
On December 4, 2023, the HCJ gave its consent on taking into custody four judges of the Kyiv court of appeal. The decision was taken by results of consideration of petitions of the Deputy Prosecutor General – Head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.
HCJ approved advisory opinion on improving judicial career procedures
The authors of the draft law consider it necessary to revise the judicial career procedures in order to bring them into line with modern needs and challenges that have arisen before the judiciary and the state. In particular, the draft law proposes to substantial revise and state in a new wording Section IV “Procedure for taking judicial office”.
The HCJ supported in general draft law No. 10140-d, but subject to taking into account the position of the Supreme Court, outlined in its advisory opinion a number of comments, reservations and suggestions in accordance with paragraph 15 of part one of Article 3 of the Law of Ukraine “On the High Council of Justice”.
More details on suggestions of the HCJ are here.
This was emphasized by the Chairman of the HCJ Hryhorii Usyk during the All-Ukrainian Anti-Corruption Forum “Integrity – the future of Ukrainian statehood”.
According to the Chairman of the HCJ, one of the most important measures of the State Anti-Corruption Program was the formation of the authorized composition of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine to ensure quality selection of professional and honest judges to overcome the personnel shortage, to complete the qualification assessment of judges as one of the conditions for starting negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the European Union.
The next extremely important priority for the HCJ is the formation and commence of the Disciplinary Inspectors Service. International organizations have already delegated three candidates to the Competition Commission – reputable, highly professional experts. The Competition Commission will soon be created and competition will be announced for filling positions of disciplinary inspectors.
Currently, it is extremely important to develop uniform evaluation criteria (indicators) of integrity and professional ethics of a judge (candidate for the position of judge).
The head of the Council also informed that the HCJ had conducted an analytical study of the practice of evaluating judges’ compliance with the criteria of integrity and professional ethics, and analysis of the HCJ’s disciplinary practice had been prepared.
In total, since November 1, 2023, 14454 complaints regarding the disciplinary misconduct of a judge have been distributed.
Since the resumption of automated distribution – from November 1 to December 6, 2023 – 13443 expired cases were distributed, disciplinary proceedings for which have not been completed by the previous composition of the Council and complaints received from August 5, 2021 to October 31, 2023. Of which 1 485 cases were for the current week.
From November 1 to December 6, there were also distributed 1011 new cases received since November 1, 2023, of which 244 cases were for the current week.
HCJ terminated retirement of a judge due to acquisition of foreign citizenship
An assessment of the circumstances established by the HCJ made it possible to conclude that the retired judge, who retains the title of judge, acquired russian citizenship (of a terrorist state), and holding the relevant judicial position of an illegitimate court violated the requirements of the Constitution and laws of Ukraine, thereby undermining the authority of justice, public trust in the judiciary.
The judge was dismissed from the office of judge of the Court of appeal of the Luhansk region due to submission of application for resignation, by the Resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine dated July 5, 2016 No. 1433-VIII. Establishing the fact that the judge has acquired citizenship of the russian federation shall be the ground to terminate his resignation and, accordingly, termination of the lifetime monthly allowance in connection with the retirement.
HCJ has formed competition commission for selection to the positions of disciplinary inspectors
On December 7, 2023, the HCJ took decision to form competition commission for conducting competitive selection of candidates for the positions of the Head of the Service, Deputy Head of the Service and disciplinary inspector.
The Competition Commission included members of the HCJ Yuliia Bokova; Olena Kovbii; Olha Popikova; retired judge and adjunct professor at Seattle University School of Law John Erlick; expert on judicial reform, ex-member of the Judicial Council of the Slovak Republic Pavol Žilinčík; ex-Head of the National Court Administration of Lithuania Reda Moliene.
On December 7, 2023, the HCJ decided to bring the Head of the SJA of Ukraine Oleksii Salnikov to disciplinary responsibility in the form of dismissal from the civil service office.