On July 28, 2023, the Chairman of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine, Roman Ihnatov, took part in a meeting on the administration of justice under martial law held at the Supreme Court.
As Roman Ihnatov noted in his speech, russia’s open-armed aggression against Ukraine has made adjustments not only to the public life of the country but also to the work of the judiciary. Therefore, it is not always possible to ensure the continuous operation of courts during the war. There are courts that do not conduct court proceedings at all, in particular, due to occupation or location in the combat zone.
“On July 27, 2023, the HQCJ approved at its plenary meeting the list of 16 NGOs that will elect 20 members of the Public Integrity Council at the constituent meeting,” said Mr. Ihnatov.
The launch of the PIC’s work will allow the HQCJ to continue the qualification evaluation of more than 2,000 judges from all over Ukraine. In particular, 323 judges who are not administering justice due to the expiration of the five-year term for which they were appointed are awaiting the evaluation.
Roman Ihnatov emphasized that the Commission’s members also completed the review of 1,028 practical assignments of 368 candidates for the position of a judge and approved the general results of the qualification examination passed by candidates for the position of a local court judge in July-August 2019.
“The issue that the HQCJ will face in its further work concerns the new selection of candidates for judicial positions. It will be very difficult to select such a large number of candidates under martial law, particularly given the frequent air raid alerts, but this should be done,” the Chairman of the Commission emphasized.
The participants of the meeting, including the Head of the Supreme Court and the Heads of cassation courts, the Chairmen of the HCJ and the CJU, the Heads of the HACC and the appellate courts of Ukraine, as well as representatives of other state authorities, discussed current problems in the courts, ways to solve them, and public demands for the judiciary.
As a reminder, according to Article 26 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Legal Regime of Martial Law”, justice in the territory under martial law is administered only by the courts. Reduction or acceleration of any form of judicial proceedings is prohibited, and the establishment of extraordinary and special courts is not allowed.
