New Administrative Courts to Replace the DACK: Who Will Select the Judges?

On March 26, the law establishing two new administrative courts to replace the liquidated District Administrative Court of Kyiv (DACK) came into force. According to the law, judges for these two new courts will be selected by an Expert Council composed of three international experts and three Ukrainian appointees.

The Ukrainian members of the Expert Council will be appointed by the Council of Judges of Ukraine (CoJ). However, past experience gives little cause for optimism. The CoJ has repeatedly nominated low-integrity candidates to similar selection bodies. For example:

• Yurii Triasun, a CoJ-nominated member of the Ethics Council responsible for selecting members of the High Council of Justice (HCJ), is known for releasing from custody a Berkut officer suspected of killing three Maidan protesters.

• Other controversial nominees include Yaroslav Romaniuk, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court under Yanukovych, and Volodymyr Kuzmenko, a figure in the infamous “Vovk tapes.” Both were members of the Advisory Group of Experts that selected judges for the Constitutional Court.

To better understand the mindset of the CoJ: the Council recently urged the High Qualification Commission of Judges (HQCJ) to halt the assessment of judges who had received negative opinions of the Public Integrity Council. The CoJ based its position on the controversial Supreme Court ruling in the Vitalii Usatyi case, which was heavily criticised by the European Commission in its 2024 report. Moreover, the current Chair of the Council of Judges, Bohdan Monich, is a close ally of recently dismissed DACK head Pavlo Vovk.

It is difficult to expect a body that itself fails to meet standards of integrity and professionalism to ensure a truly independent and fair selection process. The new administrative courts must be established according to the highest standards, lest they become a new DACK in all but name. We will closely monitor the candidates the Council of Judges nominates to the Expert Council for the selection of judges.