The Formation of the High Anti-Corruption Court in Ukraine: Lessons Learned and Way Forward

DEJURE Foundation invites you to visit the international discussion on the results of the formation and competition to the Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court. The discussion will take place on September 27, 2019 at The Human Dimension Implementation Meeting 2019 in Warsaw (Poland).

These will be the main questions to discuss:

• How did the competition to the High Anti-Corruption Court (the HACC) differ from other judicial selection processes in Ukraine?
• Did the international expert’s involvement serve as the expected safeguard ensuring high-level integrity of the appointed the HACC judges?
• What are the lessons learned from the HACC selection process and is the applied model an option in the context of future reforms in Ukraine and abroad?

The event will be held in English. Simultaneous translation to Russian will be provided. Refreshments will be provided.

Speakers

Andriy Kozlov
Former member of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine

Olena Tanasevych
President of the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine

Clemens Mueller
Senior Anti-Corruption Adviser of the European Union Anti-Corruption Initiative in Ukraine

Andrii Khymchuk
Lawyer of the DEJURE Foundation NGO

The discussion will be moderated by Iryna Shyba, executive director of the DEJURE Foundation NGO.

Context

On June 7, 2018, the Parliament of Ukraine adopted the Law of Ukraine “On the High Anti-Corruption Court”, establishing a specialized court for adjudicating top-corruption criminal cases. The law also envisaged a so-far unprecedented special feature for selecting the HACC
judges: the creation of the Public Council of International Experts, a special body consisting of renowned international experts that supports the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine in the decision making.

The PCIE has the power to exclude candidates from the competition in case there are reasonable doubts as to the integrity and professionalism of a given candidate. Such a selection procedure with a crucial role for international experts was an essential demand of the civil society and international partners of Ukraine to guarantee for the independent and impartial selection of judges.

As a result of the competition conducted between August 2018 and April 2019, 38 out of 343 candidates were appointed as the HACC judges. The Court started its operation in the beginning of September 2019.

The event is organized within the project “Support of the independent and effective functioning of High Anti-Corruption Court” with the support of the European Union Anti-Corruption Initiative (EUACI) and the Initiative of development of think tanks in Ukraine, realized by the International Renaissance Foundation (IRF) in partnership with the Initiative of open society for Europe (OSIFE) financially supported by the Sweden Embassy in Ukraine. The EUACI is funded by the European Union and co-funded and implemented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (DANIDA). The opinions, conclusions and recommendations belong to the speakers and do not necessarily reflect opinions of the EUACI, European Union, DANIDA, Sweden Embassy in Ukraine, International Renaissance Foundation (IRF) and the Initiative of open society for Europe (OSIFE).