1. Procedures of secondment judges have begun
The HCJ announced the beginning of the procedure for seconding judges to another court of the same level and specialization for administering justice, namely:
- on September 23, 2021 - 5 judges to the Dzerzhynskyi district court of Kharkiv;
- on September 28, 2021 - 2 judges to the Zaporizhzhia circuit administrative court;
- on September 30, 2021 - 1 judge to the Prymorskyi district court of Zaporizhzhia region.
Judges who expressed the wish to be seconded to mentioned courts must submit to the HCJ within ten days necessary documents.
2. HCJ reacted to notifications from judges on interference in their professional activity
The HCJ received the notification of judge of the Zhovtnevyi district court of Kharkiv on interference in his professional activity, namely a call to the personal mobile phone of the person in respect of whom the proceedings in the case of an administrative offense have been opened, with a proposal from an unknown person, who called himself an employee of this court, for a monetary reward to assist in closing the proceedings;
Regarding the notification of the judge of the Sharhorodskyi district court of Vinnytsia region, the citizen repeatedly called the Sharhorodskyi district court of Vinnytsia region, threatening court employees. Besides, the citizen stated that he would charge the judge and his assistant with murder.
In both cases, the HCJ decided to address the Prosecutor General’s Office on interference in the activity of judges of mentioned judicial bodies.
3. Three judges resigned
On September 28, 2021, the HCJ dismissed due to the submission of applications for resignation:
- Volkov Yurii Rufovych – from the position of the judge of the Izmailskyi city district court of Odesa region;
- Ivanenko Tetiana Volodymyrivna – from the position of the judge of the Seventh appellate administrative court.
On September 30, 2021, on the same grounds –
- Kablak Petro Ivanovych – from the position of the judge of the Lviv appellate court.
4. Deputy Head of the Court security service has been appointed
On September 28, 2021, the High Council of Justice appointed Balanda Oleksandr Mykhailovych to the position of the Deputy Head of the Court security service.
5. HCJ continues the work on improving electronic justice
HCJ members Larysa Shvetsova, Oksana Blazhivska and Inna Plakhtii participated in the meeting of a working group on digitalization of justice and related legal institutions in Ukraine, established in the Verkhovna Rada Committee on legal policy.
6. Oleksii Malovatskyi: Approaches to execution of court decisions need to be changed
Acting Chairman of the HCJ Oleksii Malovatskyi during the meeting of the Steering Committee of the EU Project “ПРАВО-JUSTICE” drew attention to the acute problem of unsatisfactory execution of court decisions.
“The level of execution of court decisions is extremely low. The main problem is the appeal of executive documents”, – he said.
According to the acting Chairman of the HCJ, the executive document may be the court decision itself.
“The decision came into force – we receive in the register the corresponding mark and at once accounts are blocked and money is charged off. No global reforms are needed, it is enough to change one norm in four codes and we will solve the problem of non-execution of court decisions”, – noted Oleksii Malovatskyi.
7. HCJ takes measures for starting the work of the Selection Commission on selection members of the HQCJU
The HCJ initiated the holding in the first decade of October of a working meeting with all subjects of forming of the first composition of the Selection Commission, which is established for holding a competition for filling positions of members of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine and formation of the list of candidates who comply with criteria of integrity and professional competence.
In particular, the Council through the Ministry of foreign affairs addressed the embassies of the United States of America, Canada, Netherlands, Federal Republic of Germany, Great Britain, the United Nations Development Program to Ukraine, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Conflict, Stability, and Security Fund, Council of Europe, the European Union Delegation to Ukraine, and also the Council of Judges of Ukraine with the proposal to hold a working meeting in order to discuss issues, connected to the beginning of the work of the Selection Commission.
The Selection Commission should:
- develop and approve its rules of procedures,
- approve the regulation on holding a competition on vacant position of the member of the HQCJU,
- determine the methodology of assessment of compliance of candidates for the position of a member of the HQCJU with the criteria of integrity and professional competence,
- establish indicators of compliance with the criteria of such assessment and means of their determination.
8. An authorized person on gender policy issues was appointed in the HCJ
Acting Head of the secretariat of the High Council of Justice Tetiana Parkhatska was appointed the authorized person (coordinator) of the HCJ on ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men, preventing and combating gender-based violence. The relevant order was signed on September 29, 2021.
9. A section with comments to the Annual report on ensuring judicial independence in Ukraine appeared on the HCJ website
The High Council of Justice processes proposals received from courts, bodies and institutions of the justice system, public authorities and local governments, public associations and scientific institutions to the Annual report on ensuring judicial independence in Ukraine for 2020.
From now on, comments to the report are posted in a separate section on the HCJ website.
10. HCJ members are involved in improving procedural legislation
HCJ members Oksana Blazhivska and Larysa Shvetsova participated in the meeting of a working group on optimization of the Commercial procedure code of Ukraine, Civil procedure code of Ukraine and Code of Administrative Procedure of Ukraine, established within the Verkhovna Rada Committee on legal policy.
11. Reproaches regarding a biased approach of the HCJ concerning judges of the HACC are completely unfounded, – Oleh Prudivus
This was emphasized by the HCJ member Oleh Prudivus during the meeting of the Second annual round table “Current challenges in the activities of the High Anti-Corruption Court”.
Oleh Prudivus told that for two years of functioning of the HACC the HCJ has received 251 disciplinary complaints on judges of this court. Based on 20 out of them, were made decisions on opening disciplinary proceedings, 27 complaints have not been considered yet, the rest of complaints were either left without consideration, or the HCJ rejected in opening disciplinary proceedings by the results of their consideration.
12. The term for granting judges’ consent for seconding to two courts has been extended
The HCJ, according to the decisions of September 30, 2021, No. 2050/0/15-21 and No. 2051/0/15-21 extended, till October 11, 2021, the term for granting judges’ consent for seconding to the:
- Smilianskyi city district court of Cherkasy region – 1 judge;
- Dzerzhynskyi city court of Donetsk region – 6 judges.
You can submit documents until October 11, 2021.