Reforms are impossible in Ukraine without renewed judicial system – Justice Minister

Justice Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Petrenko believes that reforms in Ukraine cannot be conducted without final renewal of the judiciary.

“We will fail to complete the remaining reforms without getting new composition of the court. We can conduct brilliant reform of the Justice Ministry and hand over power to the local offices. We’ll see that in the coming months. It is possible to reform the system of execution of court judgments. However, it will be ineffective without new judges,” the Human Rights Information Centre correspondent quotes Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko as saying.

“Yesterday, the MPs passed two comprehensive draft laws, referring to millions of Ukrainians. It is the law that provides for new philosophy of execution of judgments. Currently, the state is cheating Ukrainians. Only 20% of the judgments are really being executed. And when we passed the bill on reform of the execution of judgments in the first reading, the MPs were right to criticize me, “Okay, you reform the system of execution, but who delivers these judgments? The same old judges do. That is, the more effective mechanism for execution of judgment could pose the risk that the judgment  is not legitimate and fair as it is delivered by a judge, which has not been changed,” Pavlo Petrenko noted.

According to him, the foreign experience advocates renewing of the judiciary.

“What was the problem of Georgia? They conducted a lot of reforms, but did not complete the judicial reform. The Baltic countries have the same situation. Many experts from those countries clearly told us that they had made mistake when they had not dismissed the judges, which they had got after the collapse of the Soviet Union,” the Minister said.

As a reminder, the e-petition, which suggests selecting judges through transparent competition, simplifying judicial system, and eliminating political influence on the courts, has been registered on the website of the President of Ukraine. The petition was initiated by Mykhailo Zhernakov, ex-judge of the Vinnytsia District Administrative Court. In February, he wrote the appeal to the President of Ukraine with a request to dismiss him because of disagreement with the reform model of the courts proposed by the Presidential Administration, which, in his opinion, “preserves the existing system.” As of October 7, the petition gathered more than 25,000 votes, and now, according to the legislation, it should be considered by the President.