“Concern, and not only of the judicial community, begs an issue of retired judges who are in uncontrolled territories, left Ukraine and cooperate with the occupation regimes or the aggressor state, or engaged in other collaboration activities,” stressed the High Council of Justice member Inna Plakhtii during the round table on “Collaboration as a challenge to the judicial system”, dedicated to search for mechanisms of appropriate response to manifestations of collaborationism in the judicial system. The event took place on September 29, 2022 at the initiative of the High Council of Justice.
The full text of Inna Plakhtii’s speech is offered for attention
The said issue is very complicated, since with the resignation of a judge, personnel record is terminated, the court system does not record who is where and what they do; it is point information.
There is a well-established position of the highest bodies of the judiciary: the right of a judge to resign is conditioned by an impeccable reputation, strict observance of the law requirements and the principle of the rule of law, the oath of a judge, and compliance with high standards of behavior in order to strengthen citizens’ confidence in the honesty, independence, impartiality and fairness of the court.
Retired judge retains the special status of a judge as a person with a socio-professional status of national importance, as well as special financial support in the form of lifelong allowance. This status requires compliance with laws and high standards of behavior.
Cases of collaborationism among retired judges certainly have a negative impact on the authority of the judiciary. A separate powerful negative factor is the payment of a monthly lifelong allowance to such persons in the face of full-scale aggression and total budget deficit.
The lifelong allowance is a constitutional guarantee of the judicial independence and component of his/her legal status; its payment cannot be stopped until the end of judge’s resignation.
Therefore, the collaborative activity of a retired judge should result in loss of the status of retired judge with forfeit his/her right to relevant social guarantees.
Only the High Council of Justice can terminate the resignation of such a judge on grounds that are similar to the grounds for terminating the powers of an acting judge: the entry into force of a guilty verdict against him/her for committing an intentional crime; termination of his/her citizenship or acquisition by him/her of foreign citizenship; recognizing him/her as missing or declaring him/her dead.
Any person can apply to the HCJ with notification about the existence of grounds for terminating judge’s resignation.
It is important that courts and competent authorities contact the HCJ with such notification urgently.
For today, it is not known how many cases of collaborative activity of retired judges can be identified. It is not possible to automatically terminate the status of a retired judge. The HCJ is not authorized. And the threat of losing the authority of the judiciary and state funds is exorbitant and growing.
Therefore, it is necessary to urgently resume the authority of the HCJ to decide on termination of the resignation of judges.