The country cannot wait for the judicial reform any longer,” President
Petro Poroshenko noted opening the discussion of the constitutional amendments
on judicial reform at the 14th session
of the National Council of Reforms.
“Today is the final discussion. Following the discussion, I am going to
submit the concerted draft law to the Parliament by the end of the week,” the
Head of State informed.
The President quoted article 6 “Right to a fair trial” of the European
Convention on Human Rights: “Everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing
within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal established
by law”.
“It is our roadmap. We have to build such a fair trial as a result of
judicial reform,” Petro Poroshenko emphasized.
The Head of State is hopeful that a consensus will be found today and
the Parliament will approve the amendments in the first reading at the present
session in order to adopt them at the next session.
The President emphasized that judicial reform was the most anticipated
in society. “It is a guarantee of investments coming to the country, a
guarantee of efficient struggle against corruption for those who have been
caught on corruption to be not only detained, but also convicted. Generally, it
is a guarantee of justice. Today, we must ensure it. We’ve already understood
the value of freedom, now we are starting to understand the value of justice,”
the Head of State emphasized.
The President expressed gratitude to the Constitutional Commission and
noted that since the beginning of September, an intensive exchange of opinions
had taken place with involvement of a great number of Ukrainian and
international experts. The Venice Commission has provided an approving
conclusion on this project twice. On October 30, the Constitutional Commission
approved draft constitutional amendments on justice by an overwhelming majority
of votes.
The Head of State emphasized that purification and renewal of judicial
corps through personal evaluation of each judge and strict control over
expenditures of judges in terms of their conformity with income were the main
components of the draft law. “It is, inter alia, a struggle against the
so-called “gifts” that are given to judges for illegal court decisions not for
beautiful eyes or graduation with honors,” the President said.
Another key provision is the abolition of judicial immunity, according
to the President. “We should protect judges from bribes and temptations, inter
alia, through the inevitability of punishment. We should defend them from
political figures who will be deprived of an opportunity to motivate judges for
unlawful decisions,” the Head of State emphasized.
In order to solve these issues, it is proposed to create a new body –
Supreme Council of Justice that will be responsible for the submission of
candidacy to the post of judge, approval of the decision on dismissal of a
judge and transfer of judges.“Judge will be deprived of absolute immunity. The immunity will only
remain for the function of administration of justice. Judge cannot be punished
for his decisions. But any misconduct, from a road accident to bribes, can be a
reason for criminal liability,” the President emphasized.
The Head of State drew attention to a new reason for the dismissal of a
judge – inability to prove the legality of his income sources. “It is an
additional mechanism of struggle against corruption in judicial system,” Petro
Poroshenko said.
Members of the Constitutional Commission together with experts from the
Venice Commission and public figures have elaborated effective ways to renew
the judicial corps. "This is a procedure of assessing each and every judge
and reorganization of courts where necessary. This is to take place in a very short
period of time and the procedure of evaluation and testing must be very similar
to what we saw in the creation of new patrol police and what is now being
introduced in the recruitment of new employees of local prosecution
offices," he said.
"The draft by the Constitutional Commission provides for the real
fundamental changes; was approved by the international expert community; takes
into account public expectations regarding purification of judicial corps;
underwent broad public discussion in Ukraine," the President concluded.
No comments:
Post a Comment