1. Inna Plakhtii: It is necessary to increase financial incentives for local court staff
This was emphasized by the HCJ member Inna Plakhtii during the regular meeting of the working group on ensuring the relevant financing of the judiciary in Ukraine, formed in the VRU Committee on legal policy.
According to proposals from the SJA in this period the HCJ made three redistributions of costs between courts and twice approved the appeal of the SJA to the Ministry of Finances of Ukraine with the submission regarding the distribution of excess revenues from the payment of court fees. These steps were taken in order to direct funds to the payment of judges' fees, mandatory salary components for court staff and payment of current expenses, in particular, to pay for utilities and send mail.
I. Plakhtii noted:
“Unfortunately, funds that can be directed by taking these steps, unable to cover all court needs, especially in financing current expenditures. The amount of funds currently spent on current expenditures is only 17% of the real need”
I. Plakhtii noted that immediately upon receipt of proposals from the SJA of Ukraine, the HCJ will immediately consider the issue of redistribution of these funds.
2. HCJ extended the term of temporary suspension of judge Ihor Ratushniak from administering justice due to bringing him to criminal liability
Judge of the Tyvrivskyi district court of Vinnytsia region Ratushniak I.O. is being suspected of committing a criminal offense, provided by part 3 of Article 368 of the Criminal code of Ukraine.
The HCJ, at its session on November 16, 2021, decided to extend till January 17, 2022, the term of temporary suspension of judge of the Tyvrivskyi district court of Vinnytsia region Ihor Ratushniak from administering justice due to bringing him to criminal liability.
3. HCJ temporarily suspended judge of the Chernihiv circuit administrative court from administering justice due to bringing him to criminal liability
Judge of the Chernihiv circuit administrative court Loban D.V. is being suspected of committing a criminal offense, provided by part 3 of Article 368 of the Criminal code of Ukraine.
The HCJ, at its session on November 16, 2021, decided to temporarily, till January 10, 2022, suspend judge of the Chernihiv circuit administrative court Loban D.V. from administering justice due to bringing him to criminal liability.
4. Current territorial jurisdiction of the courts was extended until January 1, 2023
On November 16, 2021, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law of Ukraine “On making amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges” regarding territorial jurisdiction of local courts on the territory of Ukraine before the adoption of the law on changing the system of local courts in Ukraine due to the formation (liquidation) of districts”. It extended the term of administering by local courts their powers for one year within the previously defined territorial jurisdiction (before the formation (liquidation) of districts according to the Resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of 17.07.2020 No. 807-IX), but not later than January 1, 2023.
5. HCJ decided to make a submission to the President of Ukraine on appointing six judges
On November 16, 2021, the HCJ decided to make a submission to the President of Ukraine on appointing to positions in local courts:
- Bytiak Ihor Hryhorovych – to the position of the judge of the Vasylkivskyi district court of Dnipropetrovsk region;
- Kravchenko Petro Anatoliiovych – to the position of the judge of the Tarutynskyi district court of Odesa region;
- Semchuk Olena Serhiivna – to the position of the judge of the Commercial Court of Poltava region;
- Subotina Svitlana Anatoliivna – to the position of the judge of the Kryvorizkyi district court of Dnipropetrovsk region;
- Isaieva Diana Arkadiivna – to the position of the judge of the Industrialnyi district court of Dnipropetrovsk;
- Shevchenko Maryna Oleksandrivna – to the position of the judge of the Lysychanskyi city court of Luhansk region.
6. Three judges resigned
The HCJ decided to dismiss due to the submission of applications for resignation:
- Pikul Antonina Adolfivna – from the position of the judge of the Kyiv appellate court;
- Dietkov Oleksandr Yakymovych – from the position of the judge of the Berezivskyi district court of Odesa region;
- Vysotska Valentyna Stepanivna – from the position of the judge of the Civil Cassation Court within the Supreme Court.
7. Procedure of secondment judges to three courts has begun
The HCJ, according to decisions of November 16, 2021, No. 2218/0/15-21 and No. 2226/0/15-21 announced the beginning of the procedure for seconding judges to:
the Popasnianskyi district court of Luhansk region – 3 judges;
the Balakliiskyi district court of Kharkiv region – 1 judge.
According to the decision of November 18, 2021, No. 2243/0/15-21 the HCJ announced the beginning of the procedure for seconding judges to the Kamiansko-Dniprovskyi district court of Zaporizhzhia region - 2 judges.
Judges who expressed the wish to be seconded to mentioned courts must submit to the HCJ within ten days from the date of the announcement of the beginning of the procedure for seconding judges necessary documents.
8. Most of judges work as metallurgists near a hot stove, – Oleh Prudivus
The HCJ Oleh Prudivus in the interview to the “STB” channel told about the reasons that cause an acute shortage of staff in the courts.
9. Larysa Shvetsova: Adoption of the Law of Ukraine “On mediation” has an important value both for the judiciary and citizens
HCJ member Larysa Shvetsova drew the attention that this Law provides the possibility of extrajudicial conflict solving, which is the alternative to the court proceeding.
“Judges, due to staff shortage, work with excessive load. So mediation will give the possibility to at least a little unload the courts. Citizens will be able to solve disputes faster and immediately execute the decision”.
According to Larysa Shvetsova, in a lot of European countries mediation is being used for a long time already:
In Ukraine, this procedure has been used as a pilot project for about 20 years. After the entry into force of this Law, we may apply mediation in accordance with the requirements established by it”
The Law made amends to procedural codes and the opportunity to resolve the issue of referring the dispute to a mediator for out-of-court settlement is provided. At the time of the mediation procedure, the court may suspend the proceedings.
10. “Finally! Draft law has been registered! We will keep the gold fund of employees of apparatus of courts!”, – Oleh Prudivus
As a result of close cooperation of the HCJ with parliamentarians of the relevant legal committee, the SJA and the Head of the CJU Bohdan Monich within the working group on issues regarding proper financing of the judiciary in Ukraine was the development and registration of an extremely important draft law “On making amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges” on the settlement of the issue of remuneration of court employees” (No. 6311). This was emphasized by the HCJ member Oleh Prudivus:
“Currently, the situation in the courts is critical not only due to the acute shortage of judges but also due to the massive outflow of skilled employees from the courts. Civil servants and patronage service employees, on whom the work of the court largely depends, fire due to low wages, after all, incentive payments under the current legal regulation are unpredictable and are often not paid due to lack of funds. Therefore, there is an urgent need to address this issue immediately”
According to him, the introduction of a modern fair and transparent approach to remuneration, namely, the establishment of a new system for determining the number of wages with an increase in the size of the basic salary, will allow to keep personnel potential, as well as staffing the courts with professional lawyers.
Besides, Oleh Prudivus emphasized that determining the amount of remuneration in the relevant special law will promote the independence of the judiciary.
11. The term for granting judges’ consent for secondment to the Chutivskyi district court of Poltava region has been extended
The HCJ extended the term for granting judges’ consent for seconding to the Chutivskyi district court of Poltava region. Judges who expressed the wish to be seconded to the mentioned court must submit till November 26, 2021, the HCJ necessary documents.
12. HCJ addressed the Prosecutor General’s Office regarding facts, notified by judges of the Commercial Court of Odesa region
From judges of the Commercial court of Odesa region Nataliia Petrenko, Oleh Tsiselskyi, Tetiana Diachenko and Kateryna Pohrebna were received notifications on interference in their professional activity.
Judges informed that applications were received on behalf of various alleged participants in the cases, in which was specified that judges N. Petrenko, T. Diachenko and K. Pohrebna during hearing the cases, received 3 000 USD each.
Regarding the notifications that were received from judges of the Commercial Court of Odesa region, the HCJ decided to address the Prosecutor General’s Office on providing information on disclosure and investigation of a crime in criminal proceedings, entered on September 3, 8 and 20, 2021 to the URPI by signs of a criminal offense, envisaged by part one of Article 383 of the CC of Ukraine.
13. The guarantee of the right to a fair trial is an independent bar, – Oleksii Malovatskyi
On November 17, 2021, nine years passed since the establishment of the Ukrainian National Bar Association. On this occasion a solemn online meeting, in which participated representatives of the HCJ – acting Chairman of the HCJ Oleksii Malovatskyi and HCJ member Pavlo Grechkivskyi.
Oleksii Malovatskyi considers:
“Reforming of the advocacy should be held exclusively with the participation of lawyers themselves, as this was the main idea of the Law of Ukraine “On the advocacy activity” that was adopted in 2012”, – considers Oleksii Malovatskyi.
HCJ member Pavlo Grechkivskyi noted that for years of existence of the UNBA, it not only grew as an organization but also became known in the world.
The Acting Chairman of the HCJ informed that currently there is a serious problem of staff shortage in courts of the first and appellate instances. In particular, as of today, no justice is administered in eight courts, and 86 courts have only one judge who has the power to administer justice. Oleksii Malovatskyi said:
“At the same time, about 200 judges are awaiting decrees appointing to positions of judges and taking the oath. The HCJ will initiate a public appeal to the President of Ukraine regarding solving this issue”
14. Appoint impossible to wait: Joint public appeal of the HCJ and professional organizations regarding the appointment of judges
The HCJ for the first time together with judicial and legal organizations appealed to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as a guarantor of the Constitution of Ukraine with the open letter with the request to appoint judges to resolve the acute personnel crisis in Ukrainian courts.
15. Oleksandr Seriohin has been appointed as the Deputy Head of the Secretariat – Head of the division on issues regarding corruption prevention and detection of the HCJ Secretariat
A competition on filling the position of a civil service of “A” category in the justice system - Deputy Head of the Secretariat – Head of the division on issues regarding corruption prevention and detection of the HCJ Secretariat was announced on April 22, 2021.
On October 29, 2021, the Commission on senior civil service in the justice system submitted to the HCJ a proposal regarding the candidacy of Seriohin O. Yu. as a winner of the mentioned competition.
16. High Council of Justice made important decisions regarding issues on financing the judiciary
On November 18, 2021, the HCJ agreed on the appeal of the SJA of Ukraine to the Ministry of Finances of Ukraine with the submission regarding the distribution of excess revenues from court fees, and also agreed on the redistribution of expenses of the state budget in order to ensure the payment of judges' remuneration for judges, who actually work, and the salaries to court staff.
Thus, the HCJ immediately agreed on regular proposals from the SJA of Ukraine in order to regular appeal to the Ministry of Finances of Ukraine to distribute excess revenues from court fees, which will be aimed at quickly meeting the needs of courts in consumption expenditures in the amount of 72 599 thousand UAH.
By this decision, it will be additionally directed to the court staff payments 60 189,9 thousand UAH, which will allow providing incentive payments in local general courts at the level of not less than 25% of the official salary.
17. HCJ responded to notification of the judge of the Moskovskyi district court of Kharkiv on interference in her professional activity
The HCJ decided to address the Prosecutor General’s Office on providing information on disclosure and investigation of a crime in criminal proceedings, entered in the URPI by signs of a criminal offense, envisaged by part one of Article 376 of the CC of Ukraine by facts, notified by the judge of the Moskovskyi district court of Kharkiv Tetiana Dovhotko.