On October 31, 2024, the High Council of Justice decided to make a submission to the President of Ukraine on appointing Filipov Yevhen Yevhenovych to the position of a judge of the Vasylkivskyi district court of Dnipropetrovsk region.
Five judges resigned
On October 29 and 31, 2024, the High Council of Justice decided to dismiss:
- Stepanova Oksana Saveliivna – from the office of a judge of the Pokrovskyi district court of Dnipropetrovsk region;
- Holiashkin Oleh Volodymyrovych – from the office of a judge of the Sixth appellate administrative court;
- Kurylo Liana Volodymyrivna – from the office of a judge of the Kharkiv appellate administrative court (seconded to the Second appellate administrative court);
- Marynchak Ninel Yevhenivna – from the office of a judge of the Sixth appellate administrative court.
- Vovk Ivan Volodymyrovych – from the office of a judge of the Northern appellate commercial court due to their applications for resignation.
Judge of the Commercial court of Kherson region Soloviov Kyrylo Volodymyrovych (seconded to the Commercial court of Odesa region) has been temporarily suspended from administering justice based on the decision of the First Disciplinary chamber of the HCJ.
The decision to bring judge to disciplinary liability and apply a disciplinary penalty to him in the form of submission for dismissal from the office was made by the First Disciplinary chamber of the HCJ on October 28, 2024.
Due to the need to resolve issues related to the appointment and dismissal of the Head of the Service of Disciplinary Inspectors, Deputy Head of the Service of Disciplinary Inspectors, and disciplinary inspector, the High Council of Justice by its decision No. 3120/0/15-24 made amendments to the HCJ Rules of Procedure.
Section II of the Rules of Procedure is supplemented by Chapter 61, which clearly defines procedural aspects related to the appointment and dismissal of disciplinary inspectors.
The Second Conference on “Justice in national courts for war crimes”, organized by the USAID Program "Justice for All" in cooperation with Ukrainian and international partners, discussed the challenges faced by the judicial system in considering war crimes cases and further steps to ensure fair, impartial and effective consideration of these cases by Ukrainian courts in light of international and national best practices.
During the session “Improving the administration of war crimes cases in courts,” Dmytro Lukianov, Deputy Head of the High Council of Justice, noted that according to statistics on the website of the Prosecutor General's Office, 142000 crimes under Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine have been registered. At the same time, in 2022-2024 – only 85 proceedings.
The consideration of a large number of such cases is a problem due to the rather atomized judicial system (a branched system with a large number of small courts - ed.) and at the same time an acute shortage of judges.
Currently, there are 479 courts of the first instance in Ukraine, with 2171 judges specializing in criminal cases. Thus, on average, 4-5 judges can hear such cases in one court of the first instance. The shortage of judges in the courts of first instance is about 30%.
Preparation of the Shadow Report is an important step in Ukraine's EU integration
Dmytro Lukianov, Deputy Head of the High Council of Justice, took part in the event “Ukraine's Path to the EU: Key conclusions from the Shadow Report on Chapter 23 “Justice and Fundamental Rights” and the Second EU-Ukraine Bilateral Session on Chapter 23 (Cluster 1 “Fundamentals of the EU Accession Process”)”.
On October 30, 2024, the HCJ Secretariat transferred to the Council of Judges of Ukraine and the Ethics council the conclusions on the results of the special vetting of candidates for two positions of members of the High Council of Justice to determine whether candidates meet the criteria of professional ethics and integrity.
The transfer of materials took place immediately after the HCJ Secretariat received all responses from the authorized bodies within the framework of the special inspection.
Judge of the Bolhradskyi district court of Odesa region Vysotskyi Serhii Oleksandrovych has been temporarily suspended from administering justice based on the decision of the Third Disciplinary chamber of the High Council of Justice.
The decision to bring judge to disciplinary liability and apply a disciplinary penalty to him in the form of submission for dismissal from the office was made by the Third Disciplinary chamber of the HCJ on October 30, 2024.
HCJ Secretariat transferred the results of special vetting of four candidates for HQCJU member
On October 29, 2024, an official meeting of the Selection Commission for the selection of candidates for the positions of members of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine was held.
During the meeting, the Commission decided to admit to the interview four candidates.
Immediately upon receipt of the list of these candidates, the HCJ Secretariat, on October 30, 2024, submitted to the Selection Commission for the selection of candidates for the positions of HQCJU members references on the results of a special check in respect of three candidates.
A reference on the fourth candidate will be drawn up and submitted to the Commission after the candidate provides explanations.
HCJ postponed the resumption of work of the Bilozerskyi district court of Kherson region
Due to the security situation in the Kherson region, on October 31, 2024, the High Council of Justice decided to postpone the resumption of the work of the Bilozerskyi district court of Kherson region until March 1, 2025.
Kherson city court of Kherson region will continue consideration of cases submitted to this court until February 28, 2025 inclusive.
The draft concept of the Unified Judicial Information and Telecommunication System was discussed
In the process of improving the justice system and bringing it closer to the users of judicial services, one of the key areas is the digitalization of judicial proceedings, which is no less important than solving human, financial, logistical and other problems.
This was stated by HCJ Chairman Hryhorii Usyk during an event where the draft concept of the IJITS was discussed.
According to the HCJ Chairman, the most important thing that judges and court staff would like to get from this system is convenience, clarity, accessibility, security and reliability, which will increase the efficiency of justice.
“It is important for this system to integrate with other information and telecommunication systems, such as the unified electronic system for managing criminal proceedings “Smereka” and the pre-trial investigation system “iCase””, – emphasized Hryhorii Usyk.