Name: Denys Bugay
Position: President of Ukrainian Bar Association
Key point: Law enforcement not delivering justice
Corrupt officials go unpunished not because of crafty defense lawyers, but because of an unreformed and poorly performing state prosecution service, Ukrainian Bar Association president and VB partners lawyer Denys Bugay says.
“Society wants justice, it wants inevitable punishment for people who have committed a crime, but the state doesn’t provide that,” Bugay told the Kyiv Post. “Our government institutions have a huge problem with professionalism. We won’t see the result unless we fill our prosecution, courts and police with professionals.”
Bugay describes justice as a triangle of courts, prosecution and defense. To ensure justice, all three parts have to work well. However, all three have issues to fix.
“There can’t be proper justice, when the rules inside the advocacy are not completely honest,” he said.
Bugay explained that attorneys delegate representatives to the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine and High Council of Justice, the bodies that oversee the courts.
However, the procedures through which these representatives are chosen are not always transparent and are open to manipulation. They have to be changed, Bugay says.
Meanwhile, the prosecution part of the triangle has a much longer way to go. In fact, reform of the state prosecution service has failed altogether, Bugay said.
For starters, salaries for prosecutors have to be increased significantly. Another step would be to form ruling bodies in prosecution, with appointments based on merit, he said.
“In the current prosecution, I mean during its last years, the career path of prosecutors and investigators has depended not on their successes, but on whether they are loyal to their superiors, and on how much money they are ready to invest in the job position,” Bugay said.
The press service of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine said in an emailed note that the agency’s leadership were doing everything possible to reform it and bring it in line with the European standards, including “open and transparent” competitions for the job positions.
In terms of the courts, Bugay praised the direction of the current court reform, but said it needs to be accelerated. As an example of positive change, Bugay mentioned the reform of Ukraine’s Supreme Court.
“There is an ongoing transparent competition to form the reformed Supreme Court. Not only judges, but also attorneys and scientists of the law can take part in the competition,” Bugay said.
He said this reform will deliver a top-notch, corruption-free Supreme Court. Bugay said the Ukrainian Bar Association that he heads deserves credit for the Supreme Court reform.
Strong community
Bugay joined the association in 2003, one year after it was founded, when there were only 200 members. Since then, it has grown into a public organization with 6,000 members that hosts about 400 events per year, including forums, seminars and discussions.
“We have become an instrument for influencing civil society. We are able to influence the legal processes in the country,” Bugay said.
Many members have gone into government service or in government advisory bodies, he said, while others have become lawmakers. “So we can share our ideas, which will end up in draft laws and become laws,” he said.
Bugay became association president almost four years ago. His second two-year term expires this summer. Since there is a two-term limit, he cannot seek re-election. However, he will stay as a board member.
The Ukrainian Bar Association is a community based on values and principles, Bugay said, not on personalities.
The association also has ethical standards that its members must follow, and even an ethics commission that resolves disputes among attorneys and excludes members who violate standards.
These standards are in line with Ukrainian law: An attorney can’t break the law, abuse rights, lie in court or forge evidence. Those who violate the standards or break the law are expelled.
“A person becomes an outcast” if they violate legal or ethical principles, Bugay said. “In a developed country, exclusion from the professional community is the worst thing that can happen. It’s the end of your career.”
