Hryhorii Usyk, the Chairman of the High Council of Justice, emphasized this during the XI International Judicial and Legal Forum. In his speech, the leader of the HCJ noted that the war is a challenge for the state, the people of Ukraine, including the judicial system. During the period of martial law, the judiciary did not stop its work, in particular, during the year 2022, the courts considered over 2 million cases.
The administration of justice was only suspended in temporarily occupied territories or in areas where the active combat operations continue. Due to this situation, the jurisdiction of 171 courts was changed and judges were assigned to courts operating in areas under Ukraine's control.
“15 courts were completely destroyed, 116 of the 777 existing courts in the country, which is about 15%, have varying degrees of destruction. According to preliminary calculations, it will require over 1.8 billion Ukrainian hryvnias to restore the courts. During 2022, the emergency restoration works have already been conducted in 54 courts. Unfortunately, the issue of security remains critical as only 63 courts have stationary shelter facilities”, - emphasized Hryhorii Usyk.
He also mentioned that the work of four courts in Kherson region have already been restored. There is an intention to restore the functioning of three courts in Kharkiv region, and further plans involve restoring courts in the de-occupied territories of Donetsk region.
Describing the personnel situation in the judicial system, the Head of the HCJ reported that as of the beginning of July 2023, the HCJ made a decision to dismiss 192 judges, out of which 178 retired voluntarily, 13 resigned at their own request, and 1 was dismissed due to disciplinary misconduct. This trend continues, and the number of judges resigning is increasing.
According to Hryhorii Usyk, this is due to fatigue that arose as a result of significant physical and psychological stress. There is also a possibility of an increase in the outflow of personnel in connection with possible additional checks of judges for compliance, announced at a meeting of the NSDC in connection with the decision to conduct continuous checks of all judges of the court in which the corruption offense was committed, for compliance with the criterion of integrity. In the opinion of the Chairman of the HCJ, the collegial responsibility of judges is inadmissible.
Summing up, Hryhorii Usyk stated that Ukraine as a nation is going through an extremely challenging test of war. We are sure that the Victory will be on our side. We have an opportunity to come out of the war with a different vision of the development of our country, particularly the judicial branch of government.