BY PAVEL POLITYUK
Jan 22 Ukraine's constitutional court approved moves on Friday to stamp out
political meddling in the judicial system and halt bribe-taking among judges,
part of an anti-corruption drive to help secure aid and goodwill from vital
international backers.
The court approved amendments that would strip lawmakers of the power to
appoint judges, remove judges' immunity from prosecution, and impose more
stringent criteria on who can become a judge.
The European Union and the International Monetary Fund, which has propped
up Ukraine's economy with a $40 billion bailout programme as it fights
pro-Russian separatists in the east, have repeatedly urged Kiev to tackle
endemic corruption and bribe-taking.
According to a December survey by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation
think-tank, 80 percent of Ukrainians distrust the courts and believe judges are
susceptible to bribes and political pressure.
While the court's decision was expected, the reforms face a sterner test in
parliament which now has to turn the amendments into law.
Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk's coalition has a small majority and
lawmakers who sometimes rebel against government decisions. The proposed
reforms need a two-thirds majority to pass at the final reading.
"It is a political process ... and a matter of political
consensus," Oleksy Filatov, President Petro Poroshenko's representative at
the constitutional court, told reporters.
"I hope it does not take much time (to adopt the reforms), because
without these changes, fundamental changes in the justice system demanded by
society are impossible."
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