OP-ED

Mykhailo Zhernakov, Nestor Barchuk: Zelensky must prove he is serious about judicial reform

By Mykhailo Zhernakov, Nestor Barchuk.

Published Oct. 12, 2021 at 4:33 am

The Constitutional Court of Ukraine on June 23, 2020 in Kyiv. The notoriously corrupt 15-member court, along with its judicial partners in the Kyiv City Administrative Court led by Judge Pavlo Vovk, have issued rules that deliver smashing blows to the nation’s ability to combat corruption. The Constitutional Court has invalidated Ukraine’s strong legal requirements for public income and asset disclosures by officials, while removing any criminal penalties for illegal enrichment. The Vovk-led court, meanwhile, ruled that Artem Sytnyk, head of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, should be dismissed because his appointment in 2015 was illegal. Combined with the uselessness of Prosecutor General Iryna Venedytkova in pursuing criminal cases against top-level corruption, and the dismal records of other judicial bodies, Ukraine’s drive for rule of law is going nowhere fast. President Volodymyr Zelensky convened an emergency meeting of the National Security and Defense Council on Oct. 29, amid calls to disband the Constitutional Court.

Photo by Kostyantyn Chernichkin

Ukraine’s courts currently sit at the very bottom in public confidence rankings. For example, the latest annual survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine found that more than half of top managers see the courts as the main obstacle facing their businesses, while almost all participating companies identified judicial reform and the rule of law as the keys to creating a better business climate and attracting international investment to Ukraine.