Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed the law on the High Council of Justice, according to the parliament’s website.
“The law signed by the president returned (to parliament) on Jan. 3, 2017,” says the Rada’s website.
As reported on Jan. 3 by the president’s press service, Poroshenko signed the law during a meeting with Chairman of the High Council of Justice Ihor Benedysiuk and Presidential Administration Deputy Head Oleksiy Filatov.
“The body, which will remove the political element from the judicial system, will assume the function of appointing judges from the Verkhovna Rada. It (the High Council of Justice) will be responsible for disciplining and dismissing judges,” Poroshenko was quoted as saying.
The president said the law, titled “On the High Council of Justice,” received positive reviews from the European Union’s Venice Commission and partners from the U.S. and the EU.
“I think the bill provides Ukrainian citizens with key rights – to justice and a fair trial,” Poroshenko said.
The head of state thanked the Rada for supporting the law and adopting it in a timely fashion, allowing the High Council of Justice to begin work already in 2017.
In addition, Poroshenko signed the law on introducing changes to Ukraine’s Budget Code, which, regulate the issue of financing the High Council of Justice.
Lawmakers on Dec. 21, 2016 passed the law on the High Council of Justice.
The bill sets the status, power, the basis of organization and operation of the High Council of Justice. The council is an independent constitutional body of judicial self-government permanently operating to ensure independence of judicial power. Its functioning is based on responsibility to society.
