The Council of Judges blocked judicial reform by not delegating candidates to the Ethics Council

At its meeting on September 13, the Council of Judges did not support any of the four candidates to the Ethics Council, which needs to be formed to reform the High Council of Justice.

The votes of the 26 present members of the Council of Judges headed by Judge Bohdan Monich were distributed as follows:

Anna Vronska, Judge of the Supreme Court – 5.

Mykola Hlotov, Judge of the Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court – 4.

Mykola Kipcharskyi, Judge of the Pustomyty District Court of the Lviv Region – 4.

Vasyl Kliuba, Judge of the Lviv Administrative Court of Appeal – 4.

Did not support any candidate – 16.

Two candidates for the Ethics Council – Olena Balzhyk and Olga Chaikina withdrew their candidacies on the morning of September 13.

“By its vote, the Council of Judges has jeopardized judicial reform. Due to sabotage headed by Bohdan Monich, the Ethics Council, which will reform the HCJ, can no longer start working. We see a clear example of a judge’s mutual guarantee: judges defend a corrupt and unreformed HCJ because they fear for their fate. Volodymyr Zelensky will be personally responsible for this failure as the author of the law, which once again handed over judicial reform to the judicial mafia”

said Mykhailo Zhernakov, Chair of the Board of the DEJURE Foundation.

The international organizations nominated candidates to the Ethics Council to reform the HCJ. Now the responsibility for judicial reform lies with the Council of Judges.