On November 20, 2023, the HCJ satisfied petition of the First Deputy Prosecutor General and extended the term of temporary suspension from the administration of justice until January 13, 2024, of judge of the Chudnovskyi district court of Zhytomyr region due to criminal prosecution. The judge is suspected of committing criminal offenses provided for in part 5 of Article 27, part 4 of Article 190, part 1 of Article 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
On November 20, 2023 the HCJ satisfied petition of Deputy Prosecutor General – Head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and extended the term of temporary suspension from the administration of justice until January 20, 2024 of judge of the Brovarskyi local-district court of Kyiv region in connection with criminal prosecution. The judge is suspected of committing a criminal offense under part 3 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
HCJ dismissed four judges for resignation
The HCJ decided to dismiss the judges due to submission of application for resignation, in particular:
- Harmash Tamara Ivanivna – from the office of judge of the Svitlovodskyi local-district court of Kirovohrad region;
- Koldina Oleksandra Olehivna – from the office of judge of the Holosiivskyi district court of the city of Kyiv;
- Bilych Iryna Mykhailivna – from the office of judge of the Kyiv Court of Appeal;
- Mychka Ihor Mykolaiovych – from the office of judge of the Zdolbunivskyi district court of Rivne region.
Meetings of the Disciplinary Chambers of the HCJ have begun
On November 22, 2023, after a long adjournment, meetings of the First, Second and Third Disciplinary Chambers of the High Council of Justice began. The Disciplinary Chambers of the HCJ carry out disciplinary proceedings against judges.
The disciplinary function of the HCJ was resumed by laws of Ukraine No. 3304-ІХ and No. 3378-IX.
The schedule of meetings of the Disciplinary Chambers can be followed in the “Announcements” section on the HCJ website at https://hcj.gov.ua/announces
The HCJ by its decision brought Oksana Kvasha into the composition of the First Disciplinary Chamber of the High Council of Justice. On November 16, 2023, the Congress of representatives of higher education and research institutions in the area of law elected Oksana Kvasha to the position of the HCJ member.
The HCJ set out the Rules of Procedure of the High Council of Justice in new wording because of the need to settle some procedural issues related to the implementation of disciplinary proceedings against judges.
The full text of the HCJ Rules of Procedure can be found HERE.
8876 complaints regarding disciplinary misconduct of a judge were distributed in the HCJ
The Secretariat of the HCJ consistently daily carries out automated distribution of complaints regarding a disciplinary misconduct of a judge among members of the Council. Since the resumption of automated distribution – from November 1 to November 24, 2023 – 8339 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 2225 cases were for the current week.
From November 1 to November there were also distributed 537 new cases received since November 1, 2023, of which 148 cases were for the current week.
During the meeting of the Steering Committee of the EU Project Pravo-Justice, the results of the current phase of the Project’s activities were discussed with national bodies of the judiciary within the framework of the following components: «Justice Sector policy, war crimes investigation», «Judiciary and judicial reform», «Protection of property rights and enforcement of court decisions» and «E-Justice».
Chairman of the HCJ Hryhorii Usyk noted that thanks to the EU Project Pravo-Justice and the USAID Justice for All Activity, the newly formed HCJ had been successfully established, interviews with candidates to the position of members of the HQCJU had been held in a short time and the authorized composition of the judicial governance body had been appointed. Also, thanks to the support of the Project, the High Council of Justice was granted the observer status in the European Network of Councils for the Judiciary.