Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych met on Feb. 14 with Ukraine’s Supreme Court Chief Justice Vasyl Onopenko, who cried foul last week about the lack of independence of Ukraine’s judiciary system and the resurgence of political persecution.
Onopenko didn’t get into details, but told the Kyiv Post that the two leaders discussed judicial reform and agreed to meet more often. “The president seems to be uninformed,” said Onopenko, but expressed commitment to European standards of justice.
The day after the meeting, a criminal case against Onopenko’s younger daughter, Iryna, was withdrawn while his son-in-law, Yevhen Korniychuk, a former deputy justice minister, was released from jail. Korniychuk was jailed on abuse of power allegations for supposedly not holding a competitive bid in the selection of Magisters law firm to represent state-owned Naftogaz, the energy monopoly.
Onopenko told the Kyiv Post that he only briefly mentioned the cases against his family, but said that he “did not ask the president for anything.”
Since Yanukovych took over as Ukraine’s president one year ago, he has systematically monopolized most levers of power in the country by putting loyalists in charge of all branches of government. The only major exception is one of the most influential positions in Ukraine’s judiciary branch, the seat Onopenko currently holds: chief justice of Ukraine’s Supreme Court.
Onopenko was elected to the position nearly five years ago when he was a political ally of current opposition leader and ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Last year, Yanukovych’s governing coalition tried to undercut the Supreme Court’s influence by adopting legislation that sharply cuts its authority.
Critics, including the Venice Commission – the Council of Europe’s advisory body on constitutional matters – are pressuring Yanukovych’s ruling majority to return lost authority to the court. Even if they do, however, Onopenko’s days at the court may be numbered.
Kyiv Post staff writer Yuriy Onyshkiv can be reached at [email protected]
