SUBSCRIBE TO KYIV POST ONLINE. ..""1111vi•11...... .. 1, rc. ·.' , •.., . vol March 11, 2016 Fierce fight under way to replace Yatsenyuk BY ALYONA ZHUK ANO OKSANA... GRYTSENKO t\grttm('nl 011 the need to ttmO\'e \rscmy Yat.senyuk L'5 a lot easier to rome b)- than ~nsus on who ~hould replace the Wlpopu1ar prone m1m5tt>r But 1.... 0 nam~ kttp ronung to the forefront of d1!tCU~1011\ for Lhe post. I ut~t<:(.: \hm.~• '\at.alJe Jan.'9.o and \ erkh"'-na Rada SpeaJ.er \'olody~T Croysmnn 8oth dodge the qu«UOO or .. heth­ (•r tilt.') II lal..t' 1he JOb h<:MeH·r. and ) atsenyuk shO\\~ no o;1uns or wanting vatsenyuk 2 Efforts to fire tainted officials face top-level obstruction BY OLEG SUKHOV Pn.·~1tll•nt P1•1ro l\1rosh£'11l..o and 1ilhtf orriaal_.. are .... bnt..ls:mJ? dfon... 10 po1~ hom po-.11 1 111~ of JXM<'r rom1pt offi.,;1.ll."1- arnl JUdi;:t." ~ \\t·ll "-" thu~· \\llh lml...' 10 e' l'n...,.td<.'.nl \ 1ktc1r )mu1kov~ch" 1t1-,'11lll' ttnd the ue ruh l dunng tile Eur0Ma1dan Revotuuon that drove President V1kt or Yanukovych 1 5 "Wl\Jtl Ln111n-. ..._GB cnooallt.,.,-e Protesters demand prosecutmn of Judges who iss un~~; th~averk~~vna Rad.a on April 8. 2014 The protesters paraded a hanged effigy of a Judge trom power on Feb 21. 2014 The rally took place e later only eight Judges have lost their 1obs and three of them were restored to "'ro'hfnl.n-. 'j"Cl~t""'J>e<'l'k' deruW 5 Ll1l•d1<11).:t"• with d sign that reJd "I was taking bnbes .. Almost two Y ar • \ \ h1l1 \omie pn,..'1'1....,,.. ha.-. bt-t·n service by courts (Kostyantyn Chermchkml lllJ1l1 m n mmm~ omc.i.:tl' (J("(f ltl tkt1tkd 1h.11 JUil).,'1"'> 1,111t l•t t1111I "''lilt 1tu- l(l\lll lllll'll lh.11 tl11tt l•lll 111llu·1·11.!hl \\h<1 h.1\;• )J\1·11 'i.llllll.m Hh lu .. lrntmn t\ 'tnllmR IJIHll 1..h.111 J \t .11 ,tl1i·1 llw p.l' ~ 111~ 1u•h.!•"' BY OKSANA GRVTSENKO .1\!Ull'I jud~" vffw. J., \\llh w~ olthc· \l.trd1.:.1111l.t.\,,1•11 l11 ... 1a- fo1 .1 '" Uw. Jlf1 ...1I• nl J.11 !"'""''tut II~ d.tll d propt·t ,1 1dlt1.tlt- "lbfll 11( ANO OLEG SUKHOV 111~ I uw\l,\ld,111 •llll\l'I" ..t.ot1l1I ht· I~ 111n1 uf pu l).!1"" 11111.. l.lll tl li11.11h1.tl t1>1ruptso11- and otlwr. lhc· 111111 1 1l.111n11I Hi.it lll1 I.I\\ ( nt11. tht.. r<. 111-tl Jll• >th1·1 ( )fl11 s.'1... m eh~· of lti-.trnllon , t1itlllll! Y1ptd,11 \1, cl 1 111 \\011111~ It Id holli ,1 OJI• \I .11 1lll!I .1 1hrc I \t·.u 11 Lust tton 8 di ;11.lhn« j,.1 d'll 111111~ ul 11~ l~1 \ ol Corrupt Courts Keep Crooked Judges https://www.kyivpost.com/article/content/ukraine-politics/corrupt-cour... News Events Classifieds Advertising Contacts About Us Search Corrupt Courts Keep Crooked Judges court judge Mar. l 0, 2016 22:44 Share I Tweet § Print 1 1..... __ e_m_a_il ..... Protesters demand prosecution of judges who issued illegal rulings during the EuroMaidan Revolution that drove President Viktor Yanukovych from power on Feb. 21, 2014. The rally took place near the Verkhovna Rada on April 8, 2014. The protesters paraded a hanged effigy of a ~udge with a sign that read "I was taking bribes.wAlmost two years later, only eight judges have lost their jobs and three of them were restored to service by courts. (Kostyantyn Chemichkin) eh.cm by Konstantin Chernichkin 1 of 8 11.03.2016 20:36 Corrupt Courts Keep Crooked Judges https://www.kyivpost.com/article/content/ukraine-politics/corrupt-cour... UKRAINE I POLITICS BUSINESS I OPINION I LIFESlYLE I TECHNOLOGY I RUSSIA I WORLD I KP SPECIA March l decided it was too late to fire judges who made illegal rulings during the three-month [WIDG uprising that toppled President Viktor Yanukovych. [W [w The High Administrative Court decided that judges can't be fired more than a year after the Are for an passing of the March 2014 law on the lustration of judges. [WIDG The court claimed that the law had conflicting wording. It stipulated both a one-year and a three-year deadline for the firing of judges. As a result, the court ruled that three out of the eight judges who have been fired by the president for prosecuting EuroMaidan activists should be reinstated. Critics say this is just another case of judges covering for their colleagues in Ukraine's notoriously corrupt and highly distrusted judicial system. "The High Administrative Court chose the approach of never abandoning their own folk.ff Roman Kuybida, an expert at the Reanimation Package of Reforms, a civil activism group, told the Kyiv Post. "I don't know how they could choose this (one-year) term ... I didn't really understand their motivation." Kma Sie 1 Kon Rei a OlegSuk insulting Oleg Sukh Mar. 10, 201 Op-ed Entertair NataliyaT Mar.10, 201 Entertair 2 of 8 11.03.2016 20:36 Corrupt Courts Keep Crooked Judges https://www.kyivpost.com/article/content/ukraine-politics/corrupt-cour... UKRAINE I POLITICS BUSINESS I OPINION I LIFESTYLE I lEOINOLOGY I RUSSIA I WORLD I KP SPBlA 01 po•oFJJ• u1 '""'" zv • ;;14 "' zo • J,)uu:pe +um 201c JU$JW owe ''°" naesm >CIJ"'S& out wao 1e14ra1eo MQ(, 10,201 by the cowts in Feblusry. (UNIAN) Editorial Alw judgas fired Brian'Wl A total of 331 judges involved in EuroMaidan ~have been probed by the Temporary Special Commission for Inspecting Commolhlurisdiction Courts, a body set up under the BrianWh~ Mar. 10,201 lustration law to investigate judicial wrongdoing. Op-ed The commission has sent documents to the High Council of Justice justifying the firing of 46 of the 331 judges. The council has already approved the firing of 22 of them. EuanMa failure o1 Bu1 only eight of those judges have alrtady been firtd by 1he president, while the Verkhovna Rada haa yet to vote on firing another 10. EuanMac Ms. 10, 201 Oleksandra Orik, the head of the Civic l.ustration Committee activist group, told the Kyiv Post that the chairman of parliament's law enforcement committee, Ruslan Knyazevich,. is reluctant to lustrete judge. and is unlikely to submit recommendations for their dismissal to partiarnet1t. Meanwhile, 19 judges have appealed to the High Administrative Court against the High Council of Justice's decision to recommend their di:!lmisaal. The court has already ruled that 8ix of them, including three who have already been dismissed. 8hould remain in their jobs. The Supreme Court, which has the final NI'/ on the matter, has yet to make a decision. Howevet, Drik said the court ia likely to rule in favor of1he judgea, as ita head, Ya.roalav Romanyuk. has repeatedly said that he ii agairwt refonning the cour1s. The dismissed judges cleared by the High Administrative Court includf.' Nelya Tsybra, who unlawfully ordered the arre:!lt of ~roMaidan activists in Cherkasy Oblaat, Vitaly Litvinov, who kept a EuroMaidan demonstrator in jail fvr two months and Dmytro Kravets. who ruled the police could storm the protester-held Kyiv City Hall in December 2013. c.wn the head of1he High Council of Justice hall protested against the High Admini:!ltrative Court's rulings on the three judges. -We shouldn't keep in place a judge who sent a beaten person who was pleading for help to jail... or a judge who effeclively allowed (police) to :!ltOnn Kyiv City Hall;" lhor Banedysiuk. c:hainnan of the High Council of Justice, said at a news briefing on Marc:h 4. Dllays and ubatag1 The commission for checking judges has failed to make decisions on moat of the 331 investigated judges, Maryna SolOV)'OVa. the secretaiy of the commiasion. told the Kyiv Post by phone. 3 of 8 11.03.2016 20:36 Corrupt Courts Keep Crooked Judges https://www.kyivpost.com/article/content/ukraine-politics/corrupt-cour... UKRAINE I POLITICS BUSINESS I OPINION I LIFESTYLE I TECHNOLOGY I RUSSIA I WORLD I KP SPECIA Both the Verkhovna Rada and the Supreme Court have been dragging their feet on appointing new representatives, she said. Solovyova said the hobbled commission would now have to transfer its powers to the High Council of Justice, though it is not clear whether the council has the authority to consider such cases. Ukrainian authorities also delayed the appointment of members of the High Council of Justice in 2014 and until mid-2015, which made the lustration of judges impossible. The council only gained a quorum and started working in June 2015. Yet another blow Another blow to the cleansing of the court system came when 25 out of the 26 members of the Council of Judges voted on March 3 against firing Zenovy Kholodnyuk, the head of the State Court Administration. According to the Justice Ministry, Kholodnyuk has to be lustrated because he was a deputy head of the State Court Administration during the EuroMaidan Revolution. But the Council of Judges claimed that Kholodnyuk is not subject to lustration because his position is an elected office, as he was selected by the council. Dmytro Dymov, a deputy head of the lustration department, dismissed that reasoning as absurd, saying that Kholodnyuk's job is explicitly indicated in the lustration law and that only popularly elected offices are exempt from lustration.Least trusted institution Courts were the least trusted out of all other state institutions before the 2013-2014 EuroMaidan Revolution, and they have lost even more in public support in the last two years.