Judges are becoming “sick” and sabotage qualification assessment. The High Qualifications Commission for Judges should proceed with the assessment excluding their involvement
Is there an epidemic among judges? The second week of qualification assessment has commenced, and some judges have skipped their interviews with the HQCJ. For instance, Maidan-judges Cherednichenko and Prytula were absent today, citing illness as the reason for their absence.
Cherednichenko and Prytula are not the only judges who have conveniently fallen ill before their scheduled interviews. Earlier, Natalia Zviezdova and another Maidan-judge, Maryna Lozynska, also used the same excuse to avoid participating.
Judge Andrienko claimed illness before her interview as well. Interestingly, during her alleged illness, she managed to submit an application for an honorable resignation to the High Council of Justice (HCJ). Strangely, she appeared perfectly healthy at the subsequent meeting regarding her resignation.
Fortunately, the HCJ decided to suspend the consideration of this issue, avoiding the dismissal of Andrienko through honorable resignation. However, the High Council of Justice failed to present a unified stance on the matter, with 6 votes against postponing the hearing. In particular, Vitaliy Salikhov, the Head of the previous composition of the HCJ, which failed the judicial reform, spoke against the proposal to postpone the consideration of the application.
It is evident that judges are actively attempting to obstruct the qualification assessment, and the High Council of Justice does not fully acknowledge the gravity of this issue. If a solution to this “epidemic” is not found, numerous judges may retire with substantial payouts. DEJURE Foundation contends that legal amendments are necessary to empower the High Qualifications Commission for Judges to conduct assessments independently, without the involvement of the concerned judges.
