Why the Council of Judges should have no role in selecting judges for the High Administrative Court?

By the end of 2024, Ukraine must establish a new court to replace the scandalous District Administrative Court of Kyiv (DACK). Recently, MPs recollected this critical demand from international partners and introduced three draft laws (№12206, №12206-1, №12206-2). However, each of these proposals contained harmful provisions. DEJURE Foundation has detailed these issues in earlier analyses.

This Tuesday, December 3, the Verkhovna Rada rejected all three draft laws, yet the risk persists. What’s the concern?

Under these draft laws, judges for the new court would be selected by an Expert Council consisting of three Ukrainian and three international experts. However, international experts would not have a casting (prevailing) vote.

The Ukrainian experts, under the proposed framework, would be chosen by the odious Council of Judges. Past experiences demonstrate why this is problematic. For instance, the Council previously pushed for the inclusion of Yuriy Tryasun in the Ethics Council for the selection of members of the High Council of Justice. Tryasun is notorious for releasing a Berkut officer suspected of killing three protesters during the Euromaidan. The Council also nominated figures like Yaroslav Romaniuk, the Supreme Court Chief Justice under Yanukovych, and Volodymyr Kuzmenko, implicated in the “Vovk tapes”, to the Advisory Group of Experts for selecting Constitutional Court judges.

The High Administrative Court must be formed according to the highest standards to avoid becoming another District Administrative Court of Kyiv with just a rebranded name. How can a fair and independent competition be guaranteed if those overseeing the process fail to meet integrity and professionalism standards themselves?

For these reasons, DEJURE Foundation insists that the involvement of the Council of Judges, along with other harmful provisions in the draft laws, be removed. These measures are essential not only for creating a genuinely independent court but also for safeguarding Ukraine’s European integration efforts and maintaining international support.