While the government ceaselessly promises systematic economic reforms, the new Law “On the Judicial System and the Status of Judges” (which came into force on August 3) found its practical application in the country. This is one of the first steps of the current government. It is also known that at present reforms of other spheres of the legal system are taking place, particularly, the creation of a new version of the Criminal Code, which has been effective in Ukraine since 1960. Time will show whether we will be able to call all these changes true reforms. In the meanwhile, as The Day already wrote, we have the first “results”: mass resignation of judges. Unfortunately, according to experts, it is the most experienced and independent judges are leaving their posts.
The Venice Commission recently reviewed the judicial-legal system of Ukraine. According to its member Maryna Stavniichuk, the commission pointed out some positive improvements on the way to drawing the Ukrainian justice system closer to European standards, “however, the general evaluation doesn’t allow us to consider that this reform fully complies with these standards.” She said that the final conclusions of the Venice Commission positively assessed four clauses of the law on justice and expressed critical comments and recommendations about more than thirty clauses.
The secretary of the Venice Commission Thomas Markert, in his turn, stated that despite the substantial improvement of the system of legal regulation, Europe is concerned by some norms in the new law. “One of such changes actually takes all authority away from the Supreme Court and degrades the status of the Supreme Court to the level when it will not be able to function as a Supreme Court should. We have a very critical view on this,” he stated. In addition, according to him, the clauses about the High Council of Justice arouse concerns.
In the meantime, sociological surveys, as before, show a low level of citizens’ confidence in Ukrainian courts. According to the information of the company TNS-Ukraine (the survey was held in September), only 21.6 percent of Ukrainians trust the judiciary. Only the Verkhovna Rada has a lower confidence rate (21.4 percent). For comparison: most Ukrainians (68.2 percent) entirely or mostly trust the church; Ukrainian mass media are also credible (50.8 percent); there is a high level of confidence in the Military Forces (43.5 percent); Russian mass media (41.4 percent), and the president of Ukraine (41.3 percent). Then local councils (35.4 percent), the Security Service of Ukraine (35 percent), Western mass media (33.6 percent), local state administrations (32.6 percent), and the Cabinet of Ministers (29.7 percent) follow in terms of the Ukrainians’ confidence level. Citizens trust trade unions (25.1 percent), the militia (25 percent), and the public prosecution (22.7 percent) the least.
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