Dependent judiciary

Perhaps, the first reform, as it is called among the government clique, is the judicial reform, i.e., the new and already effective Law “On the Judicial System and the Status of Judges.” After heated discussions and lots of criticism it was finally passed by the parliamentary majority. Today we already have first “results” in form of a mass resignation of judges.

Parliamentary Committee on Justice plans to pass the decision recommending parliament to discharge 118 judges of various levels based on their filed resignations. Among those judges there are 15 judges of Ukraine’s Supreme Court, four judges of the Supreme Administrative Court, two judges of the Supreme Economic Court. There are also 16 judges of Appeal Court in the Donetsk oblast.

It is hard to say whether it is a result of the president’s statement that corruption in courts should be burnt off with red-hot iron. For now we have rather quantitative than qualitative result because, as experts note, those are the most experienced and independent judges who resign. Why does it happen that way?

Back in time, it is worth mentioning, during the draft law discussion there was expressed a notion that the law would lead to political and administrative pressure on judges and, as a result, their helplessness and dependence on politicians.

Still, there is the other side of the coin. According to the new law the salary for a judge of the local level will increase up to 12 thousand hryvnias per month but only (attention!) in five years—starting on January 1, 2015. At this, some social guarantees facilities for judges will also reduce. One thing becomes clear today: mass resignation of judges is the first negative symptom which is obviously not in favor of the judicial reform.

COMMENTARIES

Oleh BEREZIUK, president of Ukrainian Law Society:

“It is known that the court system should not be dependent on either executive power or legislative power. However, the law that was passed, on the contrary, puts the court system in a complete dependence on other state powers. The decision on the question about judges is made not in the court system but on Bankova street. Highly professional judges who do not want to comply with instructions from ‘above’ and administer justice are the first to leave the court system. It is a true disaster for our country. It is true that judges should be financially independent but it is not the main reason for mass resignation of judges. If the law continues to be effective, there will be nothing good out of it.”

Valerii BONDYK, deputy head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Justice, fraction of Regions Party:

“There is no need to make a tragedy here. It is neither a tragedy nor a tendency. Today there are reforms in court system under way. Some judges, and one can not accuse them of mercantilism, want to resign before January 1 so that they could receive discharge allowance (that equals 10 salaries). It is big money, and in case with Supreme Court judges the sum is nearly a couple hundred thousand hryvnias. But some judges continue to work and move to Supreme Specialized Court, i.e. to civil and criminal cases.

“What kind of administrative pressure there can be when such statement is submitted by a judge and there is a paragraph in there that says: ‘a statement written personally and without pressure’? Those are purely mercantilistic interests, but again I abstract away from accusing judges of mercenary attitude. It is only true about those who have sufficient length of service, some of them have 30 years of service. It is laborious work to make decisions in name of Ukraine. People got tired of working and want to receive discharge allowance.”