The 19th Extraordinary Congress of Judges of Ukraine elected all eight members of the High Council of Justice (HCJ) according to its quota in Kyiv on Thursday, the Council of Judges of Ukraine has said.
“The delegates of the 19th Extraordinary Congress of Judges of Ukraine elected all eight members of the High Council of Justice according to the quota from the judiciary,” it said on the website.
Judge of the Civil Cassation Court under the Supreme Court Serhiy Burlakov, who was elected during the second round of secret ballot, became the eighth member of the Supreme Court, the Council of Judges said.
“Thus, the 19th Extraordinary Congress of Judges of Ukraine elected all eight members of the High Council of Justice, which will allow the resumption of the work of the body of judicial self-government, unblock a number of processes in the judiciary related to the work of the courts and personnel issues, as well as continue the implementation of tasks related to judicial reform,” it said.
Thus, according to the quota of the judicial community, Judge of the Kharkiv Court of Appeal Alla Kotelevets, Judge of the Civil Cassation Court under the Supreme Court Hryhoriy Usyk, Judge of the Lviv District Administrative Court Oleksandr Sasevych, Judge of the Economic Court of Donetsk Region Yulia Bokova, Judge of the Northern Economic Court of Appeal Olha Popikova, Judge of the Mykolaiv Court of Appeal Tetiana Bondarenko, Judge of the Kherson District Administrative Court Olena Kovbiy, Judge of the Civil Cassation Court under the Supreme Court Serhiy Burlakov became members of the HCJ.
All newly elected members of the HCJ have taken the oath and will work in the body of the judiciary for the next four years.
“The election of candidates from the Congress of Judges of Ukraine will allow unblocking the work of the High Council of Justice and restore its institutional ability to make decisions, since with the newly elected members the quantitative composition of the HCJ will be 15 people, and this is the necessary quorum for the work of a collective body,” the Council of Judges said.
As reported, the G7 Ambassadors’ Support Group in Kyiv said it expects the appointment of eight new members of the High Council of Justice from the candidates vetted by the Ethics Council.
“G7 ambassadors look forward to the Congress of Judges appointing eight 8 new members of the High Council of Justice from the pool of candidates vetted by Ethics Council. Making the HCJ operational ASAP is an important step in Ukraine’s judicial reform, in line with its European path,” it said on Twitter on Tuesday.
The 19th Unscheduled Congress of Judges of Ukraine will be held on January 11-13.
