Етична рада | |
Agency overview | |
---|---|
Formed | 5 August 2021 |
Jurisdiction | Ukraine |
Agency executive |
|
Website | https://ec.court.gov.ua/ec/ |
The Ukrainian Ethics Council is a legal body of three Ukrainian and three international members created in 2021 to appoint members of the Supreme Council of Justice. [1] [2] Anti-corruption organisations AutoMaidan, Dejure, and Anti-Corruption Action Center criticised the council's June 2022 appointments as including "tainted" judges and for refusing a well-known anti-corruption judge and whistleblower, Larysa Golnyk. [3] [2]
The Ukrainian Ethics Council was legally defined by Ukrainian law No. 1635-IX, "On amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine concerning the procedure for selection (appointment) to the positions of members of the High Council of Justice and the activities of disciplinary inspectors of the High Council of Justice". [1]
According to the law, the Ethics Council consists of 6 members, including three members nominated by the Council of Judges of Ukraine from among judges or retired judges, and three members nominated by the Council of Prosecutors of Ukraine, Bar Council of Ukraine, and National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine (each of them nominating one member respectively). [4]
At the same time, according to the law the first composition of the Ethics Council includes three members nominated by the Council of Judges of Ukraine and three other members nominated by international and foreign organizations which have provided international technical assistance to Ukraine for the previous five years in the sphere of the judiciary reform and/or prevention and action against corruption. [4]
As of 2021 [update] , the Ukrainian members are Supreme Court judge Lev Kyshakevych, Kyiv Court of Appeal judge Yuriy Tryasun, and retired judge Volodymyr Siverin; and the three international members are British retired judge Anthony Hooper, United States retired judge Robert J. Cordy and former Estonian prosecutor-general Lavly Perling. [5] [2] The member of the Ethics Council are appointed for six years, without the right of reappointment. [6] [4]
The Ethics Council is considered to be fully competent in case it consists of at least four members. [4]
The Ethics Council is responsible for selecting members of the Supreme Council of Justice (also called the High Council of Justice). Decisions on appointments require four votes of support, except if the vote is split equally between international and Ukrainian members of the council, in which case the international members' preference has precedence. [2]
Ukrainian anti-corruption organisations criticised the Ethics Council's June 2022 decisions in confirming Supreme Council of Justice membership of existing members Inna Plakhtiy, Oksana Blazhivska, and Vitaly Salikhov. AutoMaidan, Dejure, and Anti-Corruption Action Center stated that Plakhtiy, Blazhivska and Salikhov had "violated asset declaration rules, refused to punish numerous judges implicated in corruption, and persecuted whistleblowers and anti-corruption crusaders". The three organisations also claimed that Vyacheslav Talko and Olena Zaichko, who were approved by the Ethics Council, did not meet ethics and integrity standards. [3]
AutoMaidan, Dejure, and Anti-Corruption Action Center also criticised the Ethics Council's June 2022 refusal to appoint anti-corruption campaigner and judge Larysa Golnyk to the Supreme Council of Justice. The organisations stated, "For many Ukrainians [Golnyk] has become the symbol of honesty, resilience and zero tolerance for any manifestations of corruption. We believe that this decision by the Ethics Council is absolutely mistaken and kills the trust in the process and results of the Ethics Council's work." [3]
Oleg Sukhov of The Kyiv Independent speculated that the international members of the Ethics Council lacked knowledge of Ukrainian political and judicial institutions and that the council's lack of contact with anti-corruption organisations led to the foreign members being manipulated by "Ukrainian kleptocrats". [2]
As of 9 November 2022 the Ethics Council managed to evaluate 4 members of the HCJ within the framework of one-time evaluation and 83 candidates, including 14 candidates nominated by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, 9 candidates nominated by the Congress of Representatives of Legal Higher Educational Institutions and Research Institutions, as well as 60 candidates nominated by the Congress of Judges of Ukraine. As a result of that, 27 candidates to the position of the HCJ member were found to be compliant with the professional ethics and integrity criteria, while 33 were found to be non-compliant. 23 candidates withdrew from the competition including 17 after the interview and other 6 before the interview. [7]
Currently there is an ongoing competition for vacant positions of the HCJ members under the quota of the Conference of Prosecutors and President of Ukraine, in which 14 candidates from each of the bodies take part. [7]
On 24 October 2022 the Venice Commission and the Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law (DGI) of the Council of Europe positively evaluated activities of the Ethics Council and the law on the reform of the High Council of Justice. In particular, the opinion mentions that the loss of the quorum in the HCJ was caused not by the Ethics Council's decisions, but rather by “large-scale” resignation of the HCJ members even before the check by the Ethics Council. [8]
On 9 November 2022 Ambassadors of the Group of Seven congratulated the Ethics Council on its achievements in promotion of the rule of law in Ukraine. [9]
The judicial system of Ukraine is outlined in the 1996 Constitution of Ukraine. Before this there was no notion of judicial review nor any Supreme court since 1991's Ukrainian independence when it started being slowly restructured.
The Supreme Court of Ukraine is the highest judicial body in the system of courts of general jurisdiction in Ukraine.
The Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine (PSPU) is a banned, pro-Russian and National Bolshevik political party in Ukraine led by Nataliya Vitrenko. The party was represented in Ukraine's national parliament between 1998 and 2002.
The prosecutor general of Ukraine heads the system of official prosecution in courts known as the Office of the Prosecutor General. The prosecutor general is appointed and dismissed by the president with consent of the Verkhovna Rada. The prosecutor serves a term of office of six years and may be forced to resign by a vote of no confidence in parliament. The current prosecutor general, since 27 July 2022, is Andriy Kostin.
The Supreme Council of Justice is the national council of the judiciary of Ukraine, which nominates judges to be appointed by the President of Ukraine. In 2021, the Ethics Council was created with the intention of selecting the members of the Supreme Council of Justice in a way that would help to create an independent and efficient judiciary in Ukraine.
Corruption is an issue in Ukrainian society often tied to a troubled relationship with Russia going back to the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Since regaining independence from Russia, Ukraine has faced a series of politicians, criminal bosses, and oligarchs who used the corruption of police, political parties, and industry to gain power. Eventual public outcry against corruption led to the Euromaidan uprising.
National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine or NABU is a Ukrainian law enforcement anti-corruption agency which investigates corruption in Ukraine and prepares cases for prosecution. It has investigatory powers but cannot indict suspects. Only agency findings passed to the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office become a part of criminal case.
Valentyn Oleksandrovych Nalyvaichenko is a Ukrainian diplomat and politician.
Democratic Alliance is a pro-European political party in Ukraine, registered in September 2011, formed on a basis of an anti-corruption platform and Young Christian Democrats of Ukraine NGO.
Mykhailo Vitaliyovych Havryliuk born 15 August 1979 is a Ukrainian public figure. He participated in the 2014 Euromaidan protests as a Cossack of the Fourth Maidan Self-Defense Hundred, and was publicly tortured by Berkut officers in January 2014.
Iryna Valentynivna Venediktova is a Ukrainian politician, academic, and lawyer, previously a prosecutor general of Ukraine from March 2020 to July 2022. She was the first woman to hold the office and was suspended on 17 July 2022 by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. On 19 July, Venediktova was dismissed following a vote in the Verkhovna Rada, which was tabled by Zelenskyy, and pointing to the presence of personnel collaborating with occupying Russian forces within her agency.
Ruslan Heorhiiovych Riaboshapka is a Ukrainian jurist who was the Prosecutor General of Ukraine from August 2019 to March 2020.
Judicial reform in Ukraine is a set of legislative, institutional and personnel changes aimed at improving the Judiciary of Ukraine.
Larysa Golnyk is a Ukrainian judge at Oktyabrysky District Court in Poltava. She is a whistleblower against corruption of the Ukrainian judiciary. Golnyk was refused membership of the Ukrainian Supreme Council of Justice by the Ethics Council in June 2022 because of a Facebook post in which she criticised her colleagues for an illegal re-election of the chair of the Oktyabrsky District Court.
Oleksiy Yuriyovych Symonenko is a Ukrainian lawyer and former investigator.
Oleksandr Klymenko is a Ukrainian detective. He has been head of the Ukrainian Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) since 28 July 2022. Klymenko worked for five years at the Ukrainian National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), participating in investigations including those of Roman Nasirov and Oleksandr Onyshchenko. He was announced on 19 July 2022 as the winner of the head of SAPO competition, held in 2021, prior to his appointment to the position.
Andriy Yevhenovych Kostin is a Ukrainian lawyer and politician. As of 2022, he is a People's Deputy of Ukraine since he was elected to it 2019. Kostin was a candidate in the 2021 competition to become the new head of the Ukrainian Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO). Civil society organisations Transparency International Ukraine, Automaidan, Anti-Corruption Action Center and Dejure stated that Kostin did not satisfy the integrity criteria of the competition. Kostin was not selected. Kostin was the Head of the Verkhovna Rada Legal Policy Committee for two years, from 2020 to 2022. On 27 July 2022, Kostin was voted by the Verkhovna Rada as the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.
The Anti-Corruption Action Center or AntAC is a Ukrainian non-governmental organization, founded in 2012, that aims to oppose corruption in Ukraine.
Dejure Foundation or Dejure, created in 2016, is a Ukrainian non-governmental organisation that promotes judicial reform in Ukraine. Dejure analyses judges' integrity based on their records and monitors legal developments related to the judiciary of Ukraine.
Anastasiya Olehivna Radina, is a Ukrainian politician who is a who is currently a member of the Verkhovna Rada since 29 August 2019 from the Servant of the People party.