Vitaly Shabunin – reformer of the week
Vitaly Shabunin, head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center’s executive board, said on June 7 that two officers and several activists with a camera had served him a summons to a military enlistment office.
Shabunin, who is not fit for military service due to his health, views this as part of the authorities’ campaign to crack down on and discredit anti-corruption activists. Shabunin came to the relevant enlistment office chief, who was not aware of the summons and told him he was not subject to draft.
Previously activist Igor Piven threatened to take Shabunin to a military enlistment office by force. Piven is an aide to Serhiy Trigubenko, a lawmaker from President Petro Poroshenko’s Bloc, and an executive of National Interest, a non-governmental organization.
National Interest has produced a propagandist film to smear the Anti-Corruption Action Center.
In April Radio Liberty published possible evidence of the Security Service of Ukraine’s involvement in organizing a protest against Shabunin.
In 2016 discredited Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin opened an embezzlement case against the Anti-Corruption Action Center. The case was later closed due to the absence of a crime.
Stanislav Shchotka – anti-reformer of the week
Stanislav Shchotka, one of the High Qualification Commission’s two secretaries, has been accused of helping controversial candidates in the ongoing competition for Supreme Court jobs, which he denies.
Several panels of the High Qualification Commission have ignored 82 percent of the Public Integrity Council’s 140 vetoes on candidates deemed to be corrupt and let them pass to the next stage. The Public Integrity Council is a watchdog that oversees judicial reform.
However, 11 of the commission’s 16 members are needed to completely override the vetoes. The commission considered 21 vetoes on April 6-7 and overrode 12 of them, prompting accusations that it is helping corrupt judges.
In some of the cases, Shchotka, Serhiy Kozyakov, head of the commission, Andriy Kozlov, who had previously been considered reformist, and other members voted unanimously to override the vetoes. Kozyakov and Shchotka have also opposed some measures to increase the competition’s transparency.
On June 6, activists accused of being hired by the authorities tried to discredit a pro-reform rally in front of the High Qualification Commission’s building.
