At the initiative of the High Council of Justice, a working meeting was held with the participation of the President of the Supreme Court Vsevolod Kniazev, Acting Chairman of the HCJ Viktor Hryshchuk, members of the Council Oksana Blazhivska, Inna Plakhtii, Vitalii Salikhov, Head of the Secretariat of the HCJ Tatiana Parkhatska and Deputy Head of the SJA of Ukraine.
It was about urgent issues of the functioning of the justice system. In particular, the case touched on procedure of organization of the secondment of a judge to another court of the same level and specialization (as a temporary transfer).
As it was reported, after legislation amending, decision on secondment of a judge to another court of the same level and specialization and on the early termination of judge’s seconding shall be made by the President of the Supreme Court.
According to the members of the HCJ, this procedure is regulated at the legislative level absolutely correctly. The transfer of judges should be handled by a state institution, but not a public self-government organization, which is the Council of Judges of Ukraine. There are state bodies – the Supreme Court and the State Judicial Administration. It was those bodies that the legislator rightfully delegated certain functions of the HCJ due to the fact that it now operates in unauthorized composition. There are no legal grounds for delegating constitutional functions of the HCJ to the judicial self-government body. After all, the Council of Judges of Ukraine implements decisions of congresses of judges and has other powers.
Vsevolod Kniazev noted that wartime conditions require effective solutions. Therefore, the procedures may differ from those in force before. Currently, collection and analysis of staff information, information on actual number of judges in local courts and courts of appeal and workload of judges are carried out. Information on the number of vacancies in the courts is updated. Soon the Supreme Court will publish an announcement with an indicative list of courts in need of personnel. Judges will be offered the opportunity to submit applications on secondment to these courts. Decision on seconding will be made taking into account the priority.
According to the President of the Supreme Court, it is mainly necessary to send judges from courts in the territories of Ukraine temporarily occupied by the invaders to those courts to which cases have been transferred under jurisdiction, as well as judges whose courts have been completely destroyed. Vsevolod Kniazev emphasized that the issue of transferring is very acute, because judges are under pressure. “Judges should feel that the state cares about them and their fate is concerned,” he said.
Acting Chairman of the HCJ informed about the fruitful cooperation with colleagues from the courts of the Republic of Poland, which the members of the Council managed to establish. This cooperation covers both legal issues – participation in the beginning of investigation of the occupiers’ crimes by the International Criminal Court, and humanitarian matters – receiving from Polish colleagues and transferring substantial assistance to medical institutions, the military, the Court Security Service, and citizens. This direction is coordinated by Inna Plakhtii.
Members of the Council specifically noted the need to speed up procedures that will allow restoring the powers of the HCJ. After all, a number of important constitutional functions are currently not performed.
Viktor Hryshchuk also noted that members of the Council are working on changes to the Rules of Procedure of the HCJ and relevant legislation.
The meeting also discussed potential opportunities and ways to perform disciplinary functions against judges during the transition period, which are currently suspended. Members of the HCJ drew attention to the need to participate in consideration at the meetings of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Legal Policy the issues related to changes in legal regulation of the HCJ powers.
It was also about the need for the State Judicial Administration to collect information to assess the damage caused by the invaders to the institutions of the justice system.
The participants of the meeting expressed confidence in the victory of the Ukrainian army, which will allow restoring Ukrainian justice throughout the territory of the sovereign state.