Member of the High Council of Justice Oleh Prudivus during the regular meeting of the working group on ensuring adequate funding for the judiciary in Ukraine, formed in the Verkhovna Rada Committee on legal policy, once again emphasized that the amount of salaries of court employees does not currently meet the needs of today, which makes it impossible to form a high-quality staff of courts and contributes to the intensive outflow of qualified personnel from the judiciary.
Oleh Prudivus noted that the HCJ initiated the holding of a joint meeting with the heads of the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine and the Council of Judges of Ukraine, whose participants agreed on a common position on the need of making amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges” in order to clearly define salaries and mandatory allowances for court staff and to develop a relevant draft document. Mentioned developments will be submitted to the working group in the near future.
“Payments fixed by law must be sufficient to ensure a competitive salary. Currently, all stakeholders are working on a mechanism for determining the amount of basic salaries, taking into account the positions of the courts of first and appellate instances, and also high courts and the Supreme Court”, – noted the HCJ member.
2. Seven arguments as to why draft law No. 5068 will fail judicial reform, – HCJ’s appeal
The High Council of Justice once again drew attention of the people’s deputies of Ukraine, President of Ukraine to the necessity of reviewing the draft law No. 5068 in order to prevent a constitutional crisis and the collapse of the judiciary. The author’s blog of the Acting Chairman of the HCJ Oleksii Malovatskyi “Draft law No. 5068 raises significant concerns about its constitutionality ”
3. HCJ will make a submission to the President of Ukraine on appointing twelve judges
On July 20, 2021, the High Council of Justice decided to make a submission to the President of Ukraine on appointing:
- KLYMENKO Iryna Serhiivna – to the position of the judge of the Kyiv circuit administrative court;
- OKYS Tetiana Oleksandrivna – to the position of the judge of the Zhytomyr circuit administrative court;
- KUCHUHURNA Nataliia Viktorivna – to the position of the judge of the Dnipropetrovsk circuit administrative court;
- SHAMSHURINA Mariia Viktorivna – to the position of the judge of the Commercial court of Vinnytsia region.
On July 22, 2021 it was decided to make a submission to the President of Ukraine on appointing 8 more judges:
- HRYHOROV Dmytro Volodymyrovych – to the position of the judge of the Kharkiv circuit administrative court;
- HORPYNIUK Ihor Yevhenovych – to the position of the judge of the Commercial court of Ivano-Frankivsk region;
- TROFIMOV Ihor Vadymovych – to the position of the judge of the Commercial court of Kharkiv region;
- PRYKHODKO Oksana Hryhorivna – to the position of the judge of the Kyiv circuit administrative court;
- BOHATYNSKYI Bohdan Viktorovych – to the position of the judge of the Zaporizhzhia circuit administrative court;
- SYDORUK Anton Ivanovych – to the position of the judge of the Sumy circuit administrative court;
- MOLCHAN Olena Volodymyrivna – to the position of the judge of the Shevchenkivskyi district court of Kyiv;
- VOVK Oksana Ivanivna – to the position of the judge of the Pecherskyi district court of Kyiv.
4. Two judges have been seconded to other courts
The High Council of Justice on July 20, 2021, decided to second two judges for administering justice for the period of one year from August 4, 2021, namely:
- judge of the Kharkiv appellate administrative court KURYLO Liana Volodymyrivna – to the Second appellate administrative court;
- judge of the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi city district court of Odesa region VOLKOVA Yuliia Fedorivna – to the Kovelskyi city district court of Volyn region.
5. Judge from the Odesa appellate court resigned
On July 20, 2021, the HCJ decided to dismiss due to the submission of application for resignation Vaschenko Liudmyla Heorhiivna – from the position of the judge of the Odesa appellate court.
By the decision of July 1, 2021, No. 1448/0/15-21 the HCJ announced the beginning of the procedure for seconding 2 judges to the Talnivskyi district court of Cherkasy region. The HCJ, according to the decision of July 20, 2021, No. 1620/0/15-21 extended the term of granting judges’ consent for seconding to the Talnivskyi district court of Cherkasy region till July 30, 2021.
7. Two judges have been suspended due to the decision on their dismissal for a disciplinary offense
On July 21, 2021, the First Disciplinary chamber of the High Council of Justice made a decision on bringing to disciplinary liability judge of the Kyiv-Sviatoshyn district court of Kyiv region Dmytro Usatov and applied to him a disciplinary penalty in the form of making a submission for dismissal.
On July 21, 2021, the Third Disciplinary chamber of the High Council of Justice made a decision on bringing judge of the Dzerzhynskyi district court of Kharkiv Hryschenko Iryna Oleksiivna to disciplinary liability and applied to her a disciplinary penalty in the form of making a submission for dismissal.
In case the body, considering cases of disciplinary proceedings against judges, decides to apply a disciplinary sanction to a judge in the form of submission for dismissal from the position of the judge, such a judge is automatically suspended from the administration of justice until the decision on his/her dismissal by the High Council of Justice.
8. Procedure of secondment judges to four courts has begun
The High Council of Justice, according to decisions of July 20, 2021, No. 1617/0/15-21, № 1618/0/15-21 and № 1619/0/15-21 announces the beginning of the procedure for seconding judges to:
- the Olevskyi district court of Zhytomyr region – 1 judge;
- the First appellate administrative court – 5 judges;
- the Oleksandriiskyi city district court of Kirovohrad region – 2 judges.
By the decision of July 22, 2021, No. 1678/0/15-21 the beginning of the procedure for seconding 6 judges to the Sviatoshynskyi district court of Kyiv has been announced. Judges who expressed the wish to be seconded to the mentioned courts must submit to the High Council of Justice necessary documents by July 30, 2021. More details here.
On July 22, 2021, the HCJ decided to dismiss due to the submission of applications for resignation
- Hripas Yurii Oleksiiovych – from the position of the judge of the Zaporizhzhia appellate court;
- Paparyha Varvara Anatoliivna – from the position of the judge of the Dovhyntsivskyi district court of Kryvyi Rih of Dnipropetrovsk region;
- Sliusarchuk Nataliia Fedorivna – from the position of the judge of the Bohunskyi district court of Zhytomyr;
- Schavurska Nataliia Borysivna – from the position of the judge of the Ternopil appellate court.
Besides, on July 22, 2021, member of the High Council of Justice Ivanova Larysa Bronislavivna has resigned from the position of judge. According to Article 25 of the Law of Ukraine “On the High Council of Justice” the resignation of Larysa Ivanova from the position of the judge does not terminate her powers as member of the High Council of Justice.
An advisory opinion has been given on draft laws No. 5456 and No. 5456-1, aimed at elimination of institutional dualism in the functioning of the highest instance of the judiciary, settlement of the issue on the continuation of a judicial career for judges of the Supreme Court of Ukraine and judges of high specialized courts.
The Council welcomes the provisions of the draft laws on the procedure for terminating the Supreme Court of Ukraine as a legal entity and determining the status of judges of this court, as this will give the possibility to ensure the implementation of the Decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine of February 18, 2020, No. 2-р/2020 and to regulate at the legislative level the issue of judicial career for judges of the Supreme Court of Ukraine and high specialized courts. At the same time, the HCJ made a number of remarks and reservations about the draft laws that need to be taken into account.
After analyzing both draft laws, the Council decided to support draft law No. 5456-1, provided that it takes into account the provisions of the draft law No. 5456, supported by the HCJ in the advisory opinion.