The Venice Commission at a plenary session on Oct. 6 issued its conclusions, which say it supports the formation of the Anti-Corruption Court in Ukraine provided for by the law “On the Judicial System and the Status of Judges”, which was adopted on June 2, 2016 together with the law on amending the constitution in the part of justice. This is stated in the document available to Interfax-Ukraine.
The law provides for the transition of Ukraine to a three-tiered judicial system and the creation of the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court as a court of first instance. It is also stipulated that a separate law must be adopted with respect to the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court.
Now, bill No. 6011 (drafted b Oksana Syroyid and Ivan Krulko) and No. 6529 (by Serhiy Alekseyev) were submitted to the parliament for consideration.
The Venice Commission criticizes both bills, noting that Alekseyev’s bill envisages the creation of separate chambers, and not a separate court, while the bill by Syroyid and Krulko raises doubts about its compliance with the Constitution and politicizes the process of appointing judges, which contradicts the principle of independence of the judiciary.
At the same time, the Venice Commission experts positively assessed the progress of the judicial reform in Ukraine and backed the initiative of President Petro Poroshenko to create an anti-corruption court in Ukraine, noting that “this reform is clearly aimed at restoring the country’s judicial system in accordance with the Council of Europe standards and ensuring the supremacy of law in Ukraine.”
