From Telegram channels to “databases of offenders”: how judicial reform is attacked - D2251

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€286 million for a “reform” that helps judges avoid accountability?
€286 million for a “reform” that helps judges avoid accountability?

The EU is about to pay Ukraine €3 billion for 10 implemented reforms. One of them is an updated review of judges’ integrity declarations. That one alone carries a payment of €286 million. According to European Pravda, the European Commission is proposing to disburse the funds to Ukraine un...

Supreme Court Plenum initiates a competition for more than 50 vacant positions
Supreme Court Plenum initiates a competition for more than 50 vacant positions

The Plenum of the Supreme Court (SC) is considering an application to the High Qualifications Commission of Judges (HQCJ) to announce a competition for vacant positions. There are currently more than 50 vacancies. Filling all vacancies at the Supreme Court after the competition procedure has been im...

Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court overturns the dismissal of the “coffee-loving judges” from the court of appeal
Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court overturns the dismissal of the “coffee-loving judges” from the court of appeal

The Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court (GC SC) has overturned the decision of the High Council of Justice (HCJ) in the case of Kyiv Court of Appeal judges Ihor Palenyk, Yurii Slyva and Viktor Hlynianyi. These are the same judges from the story about a USD 35,000 bribe, where the money was found in&h...

The “broken bicycle” was to be “fixed”. Only now the brakes have been removed as well
The “broken bicycle” was to be “fixed”. Only now the brakes have been removed as well

Three international experts can unanimously support a candidate for the High Qualifications Commission of Judges — and the candidate still will not go any further. It is enough for the three representatives of the judicial part of the Selection Commission to vote against. This is exactly the model...

A new attack on NABU and SAPO: Vlasenko brings back his investigative commission
A new attack on NABU and SAPO: Vlasenko brings back his investigative commission

On 27 August, MP Serhii Vlasenko registered draft resolution No. 15568 proposing the establishment of a new Temporary Investigative Commission (TIC). In effect, this would restore the work of the Vlasenko–Buzhanskyi TIC, whose mandate expired on 19 June 2026. In the explanatory note, Vlasenko expl...

New rules bring new risks. What the draft law on the selection of HCJ members changes
New rules bring new risks. What the draft law on the selection of HCJ members changes

The government’s draft law submitted to the Venice Commission for consideration, in addition to a new procedure for forming the HQCJ, also substantially changes the procedures for electing (appointing) members of the High Council of Justice (HCJ). The proposed changes may create new risks for...

A judge from the Yanukovych-era elite may judge Ukrainians again
A judge from the Yanukovych-era elite may judge Ukrainians again

Another judge of the liquidated DACK may return to administering justice. The HQCJ has recommended transferring Kostiantyn Kobylianskyi to the Kyiv District Administrative Court. Under Yanukovych, Kobylianskyi’s father sat on the High Council of Justice, headed the Council of Judges of Adminis...

Two Supreme Court judges recommended for dismissal, but one of them may manage to resign first
Two Supreme Court judges recommended for dismissal, but one of them may manage to resign first

The Third Disciplinary Chamber has moved to dismiss Supreme Court judges Iryna Hryhorieva and Zhanna Yelenina. The Disciplinary Chamber voted unanimously for this decision; the rapporteur in the case was HCJ member Oleh Kandziuba. Both judges were implicated in the case of the nearly $3 million brib...

The government proposes a “broken bicycle” for international experts in the commission selecting HQCJ members
The government proposes a “broken bicycle” for international experts in the commission selecting HQCJ members

The High Qualifications Commission of Judges (HQCJ) is a body that can recommend a person for the position of judge or recommend their dismissal. That is, whoever decides your case, should you suddenly have to go to court, depends on the HQCJ’s assessment. Judges over judges, so to speak. Logi...

Amelokhin next? Another DACK judge moves closer to dismissal
Amelokhin next? Another DACK judge moves closer to dismissal

The High Council of Justice has recommended the dismissal of yet another associate of Pavlo Vovk — DACK judge Vitalii Amelokhin. The grounds were the “DACK tapes.” On the recordings, Vovk instructs Amelokhin, and the latter agrees, to draw up a plan of interrogations and investigative...

Six candidates for the CCU are already at the AGE’s final stage. There are serious questions about one of them
Six candidates for the CCU are already at the AGE’s final stage. There are serious questions about one of them

Today, candidates for the Constitutional Court of Ukraine (CCU) under the quota of the Congress of Judges of Ukraine sat a written assessment of their level of competence in the field of law. The Advisory Group of Experts (AGE) admitted 6 of the 12 candidates to this stage, all of whom successfully...

From Telegram channels to “databases of offenders”: how judicial reform is attacked
From Telegram channels to “databases of offenders”: how judicial reform is attacked

For years, Telegram channels, personal blogs and individual media outlets have been discrediting civil society organizations that promote judicial reform. Now similar manipulations have appeared on the anonymous English-language website CrimeaWatch. In 2024, the civic initiative Holka examined more...

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