The Council of Judges of Ukraine has expressed indignation at the statements of the head of the executive committee of the National Reform Council Mikheil Saakashvili about the new concept of judicial reform.
“The Council of Judges agrees with the President of Ukraine that there is a request for justice in society, although justice is not always lawful. Therefore, the essence of judicial reform should be the maximum combination of justice and legality, because the smaller the difference between them, the more citizens feel their rights by the state through the judiciary,” the council said in a statement published on its website.
The council views Saakashvili’s statements about “a fundamental redistribution of everything that happens in the judicial system” as radical.
“In making such statements, Mr. Saakashvili should know that now in the judicial system, precisely because of such statements and unresolved procedures for the appointment of judges, a catastrophic personnel shortage has formed,” the statement says.
The council also recalled the statement made by Saakashvili on the air of one of the TV channels that the judicial branch of government is “deeply ill” and is the main culprit for the lack of investment in Ukraine. The statement notes that in accordance with the decree of the president’s decree on the National Reform Council and the Executive Committee of Reforms the reform executive committee is a subsidiary body whose tasks are to prepare proposals for reform planning, their coordinated implementation and monitoring.
As reported, June 30, Saakashvili said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had instructed him in July to discuss at a meeting of the National Reform Council the fundamental concept of revolutionary judicial reform. He stressed that the authorities intend to introduce a concept that is completely different from the current state of judicial reform.
“This will not be half measures, not half-laws, not some internal rearrangements from one place to another. This will be a fundamental redistribution of everything that happens in our judicial system,” Saakashvili said.
