To the cries of “Gangba!” Zelensky's party seized control of the courts

The Verkhovna Rada adopted in the second reading and in general a law providing for the restart of the work of the High Qualification Commission of Judges, the High Council of Justice, as well as halving the number of judges of the Supreme Court.

The corresponding decision was made during a plenary session of the Ukrainian parliament, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.

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The bill “On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine Regarding the Activities of Judicial Administration Bodies” provides for:

• reduction of the Supreme Court to 100 judges;
• extending lustration to the heads of the Higher Qualification Court and the State Judicial Administration who held their positions for at least a year in the period from November 21, 2013 to May 19, 2019;
• reductions in the number of members of the VKKS will be reduced from 16 to 12 members;
• addition to the list of grounds for dismissal of a member of the HQJC (neglect of duties, behavior that undermines the authority and public trust in justice and the judiciary, in particular failure to comply with the ethical standards of a judge).

European Solidarity MP Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze sharply criticized the bill.

“Today the political leadership of the country declares European integration as a priority. European integration is about action. That bill, unfortunately, violates EU law, the principles of the Council of Europe, and violates the independence of the judicial branch of government.

And today the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada received a letter from representatives of the European Union, representatives of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Great Britain, Canada, and Germany stating that this bill violates the independence of the judicial branch of government.

By voting for this bill, you are taking away a real European perspective from the country, you are going into confrontation with the Council of Europe. The Secretary General has already sent this bill to the Venice Commission. They will be determined at the next meeting, and after that their comments could be taken into account,” she said.

Also, according to the Chairman of the Supreme Court of Ukraine Valentina Danishevskaya, the people expect completely different actions from the authorities.

“I support Mrs. Klympush-Tsintsadze that we cannot ignore the international community, we cannot ignore our partners - this is very dangerous.

In addition, the people of Ukraine expect that the branches of government will cooperate with each other and give people what they have been waiting for for years - timely court decisions. I would ask you to demonstrate to the people our solidarity that we will work on this law and others, and we will develop provisions that will ensure an independent court in Ukraine,” Danishevskaya was indignant.

In turn, a deputy from the Batkivshchyna faction, Sergei Vlasenko, noted that this bill is intended to subordinate the Ukrainian court to the new president.

“I heard about historical achievements in judicial reform in this room in 2010; it was under these slogans that Yanukovych’s reform was adopted. I heard this in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2014, when bills were voted on here, they also said: “This is a historical moment, judicial reform,” and so on.

Unfortunately, nothing changes; the slogans and content of the bills remain the same. No one aims to create an honest, unbiased justice that will make honest and fair decisions. Everyone’s goal is to create control over the judicial branch of government, the same bills are repeated, slightly modified, but absolutely identical in content,” the deputy was indignant.

After which, during the voting, out of 387 people’s deputies present, the bill was supported by 236 parliamentarians, 219 of whom were from Servant of the People. Representatives of the remaining factions, with the exception of several non-factional ones, voted against it.

During the announcement of the voting results, the hall of the Ukrainian parliament began chanting: “Ganba!”

It should be noted that the bill received more than 300 amendments for the second reading, which is why it was considered by deputies for two days.