We welcome the new members of the Public Integrity Council!
The fourth composition of the Public Integrity Council (PIC) was formed at the meeting of civil society organisations on August 4. Twelve NGOs, including the DEJURE Foundation, elected 20 members for the next two years. They are:
Oleh Baturin, Anastasiia Borema, Orest Bumba, Olha Veretilnyk, Yaroslava Volvach, Mariia Horban, Eleonora Yemets, Anton Zelinskyi, Svitlana Ilnytska, Mariia Krasnenko, Serhiy Kryvonos, Kateryna Lykhogliad, Oksana Mykhalevych, Yaroslav Nagalka, Yuliia Oleshchenko, Artem Panchenko, Liliia Sekelyk, Hanna Sokolova-Stekh, Dmytro Tuzov, Serhiy Fesenko.
The meeting lasted more than four hours. Only those candidates who were physically present were able to introduce themselves. Three of them — Oleksandr Voloshyn, Tetiana Katrychenko, and Kostiantyn Smolov — withdrew from the competition for PIC membership after their speeches. Two of them explained their decision by claiming a belief in bias during the upcoming vote, alleging the existence of lists indicating who would not be supported. Despite suggestions from other participants to remain in the competition and thereby prove or disprove the reality of their allegations in practice, the candidates did not change their decision.
Voting for candidates was conducted by secret ballot, making any attempts to influence the decisions of the participants meaningless. The vote count was carried out by a counting commission of three members, unanimously elected by the rest of the participants. The commission included representatives from the Media Initiative for Human Rights, the Centre for Economic Strategy, and the CHESNO Movement.
The new PIC will officially assume its powers on August 15. They face a crucial mission — to work together with the High Qualification Commission of Judges to conduct interviews for the selection of around 550 judges to appellate courts and finally complete the qualification assessment of approximately 1,500 judges.
At DEJURE, we continue to support the PIC in its work — in particular, by providing institutional support so the body can fully carry out its mandate.
