Experts selecting Ukraine anti-corruption judges

Thirty-two candidates were vetoed this week by the
public council of international experts to select the judges to Ukraine’s High
Anti-Corruption Court, according to the hromadske.ua news site. A total of 113
judges have applied to serve on the independent court whose creation was
demanded by the IMF. Thirty-nine judges will be selected for the
anti-corruption court, 12 of which to the appellate chamber. The final
candidates will be decided on a joint session of the public council and Higher
Qualifications Commission of Judges.

Zenon Zawada: It’s
positive that the process of forming the independent court is underway.
However, a bigger threat to the court’s functioning is the current conflict
between the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and Specialized Anti-Corruption
Prosecutor’s Office, which discredits the legitimacy of these IMF-sponsored
institutions in the eyes of the public. It’s negative that President Poroshenko
and Prosecutor General Lutsenko have been in conflict with the anti-corruption
bureau, and has failed to preserve the sanctity of both the bureau and
specialized prosecutor’s office.