President Volodymyr Zelensky’s administration said in a statement that claims by some representatives from the Ukrainian corps of judges about a conflict with the presidential administration’s deputy chief Ruslan Riaboshapka are “an attestation of attempts at self-preservation within the justice system of individuals used to exerting influence on Ukrainian justice in their own or government interests”.
“They are thus trying to retain control over the justice system. Tellingly, these slanderous accusations appeared after Ruslan Riaboshapka announced a radical review of the results of the so-called judicial reform of Petro Poroshenko,” Ukrainian president’s office said.
The current reform of the legal system, which is about to begin, will continue to be based on the principle of forming an independent court that will “be not a slave to government but a servant of justice,” the administration added.
On June 21 the head of the Council of Judges and a Supreme Court judge, Oleh Tkachuk, said that the presidential administration had attempted to disrupt the Council’s meeting slated for June 21 to discuss plans to convene an extraordinary congress of judges to elect Constitutional Court judges and members of the high qualification commission of judges.
