The Council of Judges, the main professional association of Ukrainian judges, on Sept. 13 blocked Ukraine’s judicial reform.
The judges’ association failed to get enough votes to elect three representatives to the Ethics Council, a body crucial for cleansing Ukraine’s judiciary under one of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s two judicial reform bills.
Out of the 26 members of the Council of Judges, 16 did not vote for any of the candidates. The deadline for their election expired on Sept. 13.
The Council of Judges also called on the Verkhovna Rada and the Supreme Court to revise the judicial reform legislation. Under the procedure, the Supreme Court may file a motion with the Constitutional Court to recognize the current judicial reform as unconstitutional.
President Volodymyr Zelensky reproached the Council of Judges in a statement.
“I will not allow sabotage of Ukraine’s main reform, which I promised to the Ukrainians and initiated,” he said. “Each unlawful action aimed at blocking judicial reform will be met with an immediate assessment and response. I will not allow judges who thwart reform and the cleansing of the judiciary to deprive the Ukrainians of the right to justice.”
There will be a meeting on Sept. 16 at the President’s Office with the participation of judicial top officials, representatives of parliament and G7 ambassadors in an effort to resolve the problem, the President’s Office said.
Mykhailo Zhernakov, head of legal think-tank DEJURE, said that “judges are protecting the corrupt and unreformed High Council of Justice because they fear what may happen to them.”
The bill on creating the Ethics Council was passed in July. The Ethics Council, made up of three Ukrainian judges and three international experts, is expected to fire and hire members of the High Council of Justice, the judiciary’s main governing body, based on ethics and integrity standards. If the vote is split three to three, international experts’ opinion will prevail.
International organizations have already nominated their experts for the Ethics Council.
Explaining the Council of Judges’ rationale, its head Bohdan Monych said on Sept. 13 that he believed the reform legislation should be revised because Ukrainian judges would not have sufficient voting powers. He denied the accusations of sabotage.
Monych told the Kyiv Post that the Council of Judges would delegate its representatives if the reform is revised. Specifically, he wants the quorum at Ethics Council meetings to be increased from two members to four.
Civic activists and judicial experts argue, however, that such a quorum will allow Ukrainian judges to sabotage Ethics Council meetings by not attending them.
Reactions
Representatives of the civil society condemned the Council of Judges’ actions and called on Zelensky to resolve the crisis and push through the crucial reform.
“Despite the close attention of MPs, journalists, the public and all key international partners of Ukraine, the Council of Judges blocked judicial reform by not delegating its representatives to the Ethics Council,” Halyna Chyzhyk, a judicial expert at the Anti-Corruption Action Center, said. “This is a direct violation of the law and disrespect for international partners, to whom Zelensky promised judicial reform. However, first of all, it is disrespect for all Ukrainians, to whom Zelensky and the Servant of the People promised justice.”
Vitaly Tytych, ex-head of judicial watchdog Public Integrity Council, told the Kyiv Post that the Council of Judges is unlikely to be acting independently. Most likely top officials, including ones from the President’s Office, are using the council to block a judicial reform that they do not want, he added.
If Zelensky really wants to unblock the reform, he must submit amendments stipulating that the Ethics Council must start functioning without representatives of the Council of Judges if they are not elected by a certain deadline, Tytych added.
High Council of Justice
The tainted High Council of justice is the final authority for appointing, firing and punishing judges.
The council has been involved in numerous corruption scandals and is known for appointing judges linked to illegal schemes.
In 2020, the council unanimously refused to suspend notorious judge Pavlo Vovk, who is involved in Ukraine’s most high-profile judicial corruption case.
In wiretapped conversations released by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, Vovk mentioned the involvement of Andrii Ovsiienko, head of the High Council of Justice, along with other council members in his alleged corruption schemes. Council members did not respond to requests for comment.
High Qualification Commission
Despite the debacle over the High Council of Justice, the Council of Judges on Sept. 13 managed to elect three of its representatives to a selection panel for forming the High Qualification Commission of Judges, the second most powerful judicial body. Two of the three representatives do not meet ethics and integrity standards, according to DEJURE.
The selection panel for choosing the High Qualification Commission would also consist of three Ukrainian judges and three foreign experts. At least four panelists will be needed to approve candidates, and foreign experts’ opinion will prevail when the vote is split three to three.
However, the bill on the High Qualification Commission contains clauses that give the unreformed and discredited High Council of Justice the ability to sabotage the reform, according to DEJURE. Moreover, they also preserve the influence of the judicial mafia by stipulating that most High Qualification Commission members must be judges, anti-corruption watchdogs say.
Meanwhile, a quorum of four members at selection panel meetings may allow Ukrainian judges to block such meetings by failing to attend.
