Judicial reform is stalling because the High Council of Justice, responsible for hiring, firing and disciplining judges, was disbanded last year by Parliament and 20 members have yet to be appointed.
Parliament dismissed the
previous members on April 11, 2014, as part of a drive to restore trust in the
influential body after President Viktor Yanukovych fled power. The former
president stacked the council with pro-presidential appointees, compromising
public trust in the independence of the advisory group.
It means that for more than a
year, no disciplinary cases concerning judges have been heard. Also no judges have been appointed because
the advisory body recommends to the president who should serve on the bench for
their first five years of service.
Five institutions get to
appoint three members each. Those include the Verkhovna Rada, President Petro
Poroshenko, Congress of Judges, Congress of Advocates and Congress of
Representatives of Higher Legal Educational Establishments and Scientific
Institutions.
The National Conference of
Prosecutors appoints an additional two members while the justice minister,
prosecutor general and president of the Supreme Court are ex officio members, rounding
out the 20 seats.
The law on fair trials set
May 29 as the deadline for appointing new members of the council. But that
target is not likely to be met, at least judging by the difficulty the Congress
of Advocates had in selecting their candidates.
On April 24, after 15 hours
of debate, the Congress of Advocates agreed on only two of its three quota – Pavlo
Grechkivskiy, a lawyer with Grechkivskiy law firm, and Alla Lesko, a judge of
the High Specialized Court for Civil and Criminal cases. The congress will pick
a third member in June.
Vadym Belyanevych, a lawyer
with Vasil Kisil & Partners, lost out on his bid, but praised the transparency
of the process.
“The legal community had full
access to information about candidates, which was published on the website of
High Council of Justice. The lively discussion in press is the best evidence,”
Belyanevych said.
The April 28 Congress of
Representatives of Higher Legal Educational Establishments also appointed two
members from its quota – Andriy Boyko, dean of the Ivan Franko Lviv National
University and Anatoliy Miroshnychenko of Taras Shevchenko National University
in Kyiv.
Valentyna Symonenko, head of
the Council of Judges, blames the delays on the imperfection of the new law.
“Nobody could imagine
that only part of the members would be appointed. While the violation of the
60-day deadline under the law on fair trial does not entail the cancellation of
results, the violation of procedure of appointing members of High Council of
Justice by responsible organs certainly does,” she said.
Thus far, the Congress of
Judges, the National Conference of Prosecutors and President Petro Poroshenko
have filled their quotas on time.
The Congress of Judges
appointed three judges – Oleksiy Muravyov, a judge of the High Administrative
Court; Natalia Volkovytska, a judge with the High Commercial Court and Anna
Oliynyk, a judge with the High Specialized Court for Civil and Criminal Cases.
The Verkhovna Rada, however,
has not set a date for appointing its three members.
The country is waiting, since
trust in the judiciary needs to be restored.
“If the High Council of
Justice resumes its work as a truly independent organ, the changes in the
judiciary will not keep us waiting,” Vasyl Kisil, senior partner of the Vasil
Kisil & Partners, told the Kyiv Post in an interview on April 27.
Kyiv Post legal affairs reporter Mariana Antonovych
can be reached at [email protected].
