The Ukrainian presidential administration attempted to disrupt a meeting of the Council of Judges scheduled 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, the Council’s head and a Supreme Court judge, Oleh Tkachuk, said.
“From last night till this morning, judges from various Ukrainian regions, members of the Council of Judges of Ukraine started to inform me that court chairmen had received telephone calls from the presidential administration, demanding they instruct their delegated members to the Council of Judges to disrupt the meeting,” Tkachuk said.
Attempts to undermine trust “in the ability of the judicial branch of government to resolve internal issues and problems independently” were demonstrated at a meeting between the presidential administration’s deputy chief Ruslan Riaboshapka and the Council’s deputy chairman Vadym Butenko on June 19, the judge said.
The president, the prosecutor general, the director of the State Bureau for Investigation, should condemn such attempts and the media and the public “stand up for democracy and the judiciary,” Tkachuk said.
According to the Council of Judges’ website, June 21 meeting did go ahead, and was held by 25 members who resolved to convene an extraordinary congress of judges on Oct. 24-25.
Between judges’ congresses, the Council acts as a supreme body of judicial self-governance, oversees enforcement of congress resolutions and convenes a new congress.
The Council is elected by a congress of judges. Under the law on the court system and the status of judges, it consists of eleven judges from local common law courts, four from local administrative courts; from arbitration courts, from courts of appeals for hearing of civil, criminal and administrative cases; and from the Supreme Court. It also has two judges from courts of appeals and two from appellate administrative courts, and one of each from higher specialized courts.
A Council session is authorized if attended by at least two-thirds of members.
The day earlier President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the previous judicial reform was unsuccessful and he was planning soon to unveil a plan to overcome corruption in courts.
