The Verkhovna Rada Attempts to Undermine Public Oversight

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is pushing forward two draft laws, №7033-д and №11533, that could restrict access to court register decisions and property location data. This would prevent journalists from exposing corrupt officials, hinder the public from assessing the integrity of candidates for public office, and deprive ordinary citizens of the ability to verify property ownership before purchase.

№7033-д:

• Limits access to information and decisions in the Unified State Register of Court Decisions. The public had previously called for this draft law to be rejected, leading to its revision by the Legal Policy Committee. However, according to our information, even after revision, the draft still contains disproportionate restrictions.

• Proposes to conceal court decisions related to conscription and mobilisation (Articles 336–336-2 of the Criminal Code), as well as lawsuits filed by Territorial Recruitment Centres (TRCS) regarding restrictions on the right to drive during martial law and for one year afterwards. It is unclear how such decisions could pose a threat to national security.

• Grants judges the right to arbitrarily remove information from court decisions that “may endanger security” in cases heard in open court. This creates significant corruption risks, as it effectively allows judges to hide any information under the pretext of “security.”

№11533:

• Proposes restricting access to data on property locations and cadastral numbers of land plots during martial law and for one year afterwards. If adopted, the public will only be able to view information about the country or administrative region where a property is located, and nothing more. This would jeopardise public oversight and the work of journalists investigating corruption.

• The DEJURE Foundation has already appealed to the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) to conduct an anti-corruption review, which, as it turns out, has not yet been done for this draft law.

More on other draft laws that obstruct judicial reform can be found here.