Western diplomats criticize judicial reform bill

The EU Delegation to Ukraine issued an Oct. 17
statement criticizing the bill on judicial reforms approved by parliament in
the second reading the prior day. It points out that the EU delegation clearly
expressed its concern several times regarding the legislation. “In particular,
the clauses that refer to the Supreme Court contradict European standards and
can undermine the independence of the judicial system” said the statement,
signed by Annika Weidemann, the acting head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine, as
reported by the pravda.com.ua news site. She recommended the legislation to be
submitted to the Europe Commission for Democracy through Law for review, also known
as the Venice Commission.

Also expressing their concern with the legislation
were the Canadian, German and British ambassadors to Ukraine. In an Oct. 15
statement, they cited the legislation’s call for a repeat selection of Supreme
Court judges and reducing their number “without a clear procedure and in an
unclear term.” It also questions the measure to subordinate the High Judges
Qualifications Commission under the unreformed High Justice Council. Conditions
also need to be reviewed for the selection commission for the High Judges
Qualifications Commission, including the conditions for recruiting
international experts. The statement was sent to Parliamentary Speaker Dmytro
Razumkov, PM Oleksiy Honcharuk, and Andriy Bohdan, the head of the President’s Office,
as reported by the Deutsche Welle news agency.

Supreme Court Head Valentyna Danishevska called for
President Zelensky to veto the legislation, which she characterized as “replace
old people with new ones,” as reported by the RFE/RL news agency. She said the
reform is aimed at undermining court’s independence ahead of crucial rulings on
the Privatbank nationalization and special elections to be held on the occupied
territory of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.