You're reading: Filatov: New supreme court to be formed in March

When Ukraine’s government began to requalify its entire judicial corps in February, it was looking to weed out judges credibly accused of corruption, those with a lack of integrity, and those who don’t understand Ukrainian law.

That task has proved difficult, with verification commissions ousting more than half of judges under review in some cases. But a key achievement in the reform plan is now in sight: the country will have a new Supreme Court formed by March 27, Presidential Administration Deputy Head Oleksiy Filatov told journalists in a Dec. 27 briefing.

“Requirements for the candidates are quite high,” Filatov said, adding that the government will stage a competition in order to review the potential judges’ property declarations, as well as verification of their close relatives and ethics standards.

Filatov has been responsible for judicial reform since joining the presidential administration in July 2014.

That tenure has seen some significant procedural changes to Ukrainian law, partly at the behest of international creditors like the IMF.

Ukraine’s parliament passed key constitutional amendments in June, limiting judges’ immunity from prosecution and making it so that independent commissions select judges. The country’s judges also have 5-year terms, at the end of which they undergo the requalification exams.

“As to what concerns lawyers and scholars, they also must show that they did not simply receive a certificate to practice ten years ago, but really have experience in defense and representation in court,” Filatov said.

But progress along the judicial reform front has not gone as quickly as some expected, with many criticizing the Ukrainian government for dragging its feet on an issue in which corruption can drastically change the daily life of an average Ukrainian.

“It’s always desirable that changes happen faster,” Filatov said about the pace of change. “But we live in the real world, and political events and other events can influence this process.”

Other critics have accused the new legislation of limiting access to constitutional court for Ukrainian citizens, who have a three month window of time to submit a constitutional complaint after exhausting all other legal options. Attorneys are also now the only group with the right to represent people in court, leading some to accuse the state of granting attorneys a monopoly on the practice and thereby limiting the ability of some citizens to gain access to the legal system.

But Filatov said that the biggest problem for the judges on the constitutional court is the sheer amount of cases. Ukrainian constitutional judges must resolve constitutional disputes in five minutes in order to handle their total caseload, Filatov claimed.

“It’s absurd,” he said, adding that the government needs to ensure that the supreme court is not overwhelmed with “insignificant cases.”

Parliament has yet to vote on another law on the constitutional court, Filatov noted.

Anti-corruption courts

Another bill in parliament envisions the creation of specialized anti-corruption courts.

The government has yet to enact the anti-corruption bill. But Filatov said that there are enough professionals to work in the newly created institutions, who would come through competitive entrance processes.

“For judicial and anti-corruption courts, we must apply the same high standards, requirements, and mechanisms for (selection of the) judges,” he said.

The judicial reform chief added that the selection process provided by the law makes it difficult enough to find qualified staff, and that finding extra people for anti-corruption courts would be an additional challenge.

European officials and anti-graft experts have suggested that independent anti-corruption courts could help Ukraine fight rampant bribery in a serious way.

EU Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn said that successfully launching the courts would mean an end to reforming the entire anti-corruption sector in Ukraine.

In September, the EU called on Ukraine’s parliament to adopt legislation for founding anti-corruption courts and a procedure for competitive selection of the judges.

Filatov seemed somewhat skeptical of the practice of anti-corruption courts. He said that around a dozen countries around the world had sued them with “different results.”

He also said that it would be hard for the government to pull off anti-corruption courts without real help from civil society.

“If society and professional organizations are contributing, monitoring, then we will get a better quality result,” Filatov said.