The Legal Committee introduces the draft law on the establishment of an obedient HQCJ

Today, the version of the draft law №3711-д, prepared for the second reading, was approved at a meeting of the Legal Committee. The text agreed by the Committee entrusts the formation of a new High Qualification Commission of Judges (HQCJ) to the notorious High Council of Justice (HCJ).

The members of the Legal Committee ignored the position of the public experts and international partners and left international experts with only a formal role in the selection of members of the new HQCJ.

What are the main threats of the draft law?

The HQCJ Selection Commission will consist of three experts delegated by the international partners and three judges or retired judges delegated by the Council of Judges.

In order to succeed in the competition, a candidate to the HQCJ must obtain the approval of at least two judges-members of the Selection Commission. This will allow judges to block the appointment of real “agents of change” to the HQCJ.

At the same time, the international experts will not have a decisive vote in the HQCJ Selection Commission, which was the main demand of the NGOs and one of the pre-election promises of the majority party.

In any case, the final decision on the composition of the Qualification Commission will remain with the unreformed High Council of Justice, as the Selection Commission will have to submit two candidates for each vacancy in the HQCJ.

Even if the real “agents of change” succeed at the Selection Commission, they could easily be rejected by the corrupt High Council of Justice.

“The main driver of the creation of the controlled HQCJ was the candidate for the position of the President of the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office Andriy Kostin. It was he who lobbied for amendments that offset any influence of independent experts on the competition for the High Qualification Commission of Judges.

There is no doubt that if this version of the draft law is supported in the second reading, we will soon see how our courts are filled with corrupt judges under the supervision of the HQCJ,”

–says Mykhailo Zhernakov, Chair of the Board At DEJURE Foundation

Due to the critical position of the Venice Commission, in November 2020 the Parliament did not support the first version of the draft law №3711 and sent it to the relevant committee for revision.

Instead of taking into account the position of the Venice Commission and improving the document, the members of the Committee proposed changes that contradict both the international obligations of Ukraine and the pre-election promises of the “Sluha Narodu” party.