A Check “for Show”: Another Attempt to Shield the Supreme Court from Accountability

Draft law No. 13165, submitted to Parliament this month by the Cabinet of Ministers, was supposed to be a step toward cleaning up the Supreme Court (SC). But it turned out to be not a genuine reform — rather, a simulation of reform meant to appease the European Commission.

While the draft includes some positive proposals, such as merging judges’ declarations of integrity and family ties, and requiring the High Qualification Commission of Judges (HQCJ) to verify the updated declarations of Supreme Court and other high court judges within 24 months, it also contains a number of dangerous provisions.

Most importantly, the proposed vetting of Supreme Court and other high court judges is reduced to a mere formality. Specifically, the integrity review would only cover a maximum of the past three years of a judge’s life (another draft law proposes to shorten this period even further). This means any questionable conduct before that time, including periods when low-integrity judges may have issued controversial rulings or amassed suspicious wealth, would be officially ignored.

Moreover, the opinions of the Public Integrity Council (PIC) would be merely advisory, giving civil society representatives no real influence over the process.

An alternative draft law, No. 13165-1, goes even further — it proposes to exclude the Supreme Court from the vetting process altogether. It was registered by MP Serhii Vlasenko, a consistent opponent of international involvement in judicial reform and, at times, of reform itself. In his view, the Supreme Court poses no problems, and the European Commission’s recommendations to address corruption risks within the SC can simply be ignored.

The DEJURE Foundation has repeatedly emphasised that the Supreme Court must be vetted by a commission that includes international experts, such as the Public Council of International Experts (PCIE). Composed exclusively of representatives from international donors, the PCIE proved its effectiveness during the 2018 selection of judges to the High Anti-Corruption Court.

Real cleansing of the Supreme Court is only possible with the participation of civil society and international experts, and through a comprehensive review of the entire professional record of current and prospective judges, not just the past few years.

What draft law No. 13165 proposes is something Ukrainians have already seen between 2016 and 2019, when dozens of judges with tarnished reputations entered the newly created Supreme Court under the guise of “reform.”

Trust in Ukrainian courts, the pursuit of justice, and progress toward EU integration will remain only on paper if the Ukrainian authorities continue to simulate reform and judicial cleansing. The DEJURE Foundation calls on Members of Parliament to revise draft law No. 13165 and give Ukrainians a real chance at independent and fair justice.