Legal news in Ukraine: Rada defined the work of the appeal in higher courts, the legal status of the missing persons, qualification evaluation of judges, the Verkhovna Rada went on vacation, new courts
Changes to the Law on the Judiciary concerning the Appeals Chamber of the Anticorruption Court
The Verkhovna Rada approved amendments to the Law of Ukraine "On the Judiciary and Status of Judges" in connection with the adoption of the Law of Ukraine "On the Highest Anti-Corruption Court".
The amendments confirm that the appeals chamber of a higher specialized court operates in its composition on the basis of institutional, organizational, personnel and financial autonomy. For election of judges the Chamber will hold a separate contest. Their number will be determined by the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine in agreement with the High Council.
The Chamber will have a separate budget financing program. The chairman of the Chamber will agree on a draft estimate of the chamber and the use of budget funds with the chairman of the court.
In addition, an independent structural unit will be created in the apparatus, which will ensure the activity of this Chamber and will be under the control of the Chairman of the Appellate Chamber.
Chamber of appeals chairman will represent the appeal chamber before the state authorities, local self-government bodies, individuals and legal entities and also inform the judges of the higher specialized court and the Supreme Court of the results of the generalization of judicial practice, promote the maintenance of the qualifications of the judges of the Chamber and increase their professional level.
In addition, the chairman informs the High Qualifications Commission of Judges of Ukraine, the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine and the public through the web portal of the judiciary on vacant judges' positions in court within three days from the date of their formation.
The law defines higher specialized courts as the main spending units of the State Budget of Ukraine.
The law also regulates the issues of the authority of the Judicial Protection Service, the service in the Judicial Protection Service, special ranks and social protection of the staff of the Judicial Protection Service, etc.
The Council also approved that all cases of the Highest Anti-Corruption Court would be transferred to the court after the commencement of its work.
Among other things, the Rada removed the norm regarding the elimination of territorial departments of the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine and the norm on increasing the number of members of the Public Council of Integrity.
The Parliament has established the legal status of missing persons
The Verkhovna Rada adopted the Law "On the Legal Status of the Missing Persons", which defines the legal status of missing persons.
The law counts on persons missing during armed conflict, military actions, riots inside the state, emergency situations of a natural or man-made nature, other events that could cause mass death of people, as well as persons missing from any other circumstances.
The law enshrines the right of individuals to know about the fate of their missing relatives, which is the basic norm for the protection of their rights. Legislative act also defines the procedure for tracing of missing persons, from filing an application for investigation until it is completed.
For the purpose of the search for missing persons during conflict, the Law provides for the creation of a Commission on the Status of Missing Persons in Special Circumstances - the body responsible for determining the fate and location of such persons.
The Commission is the holder of the Unified Register of Uncleared Persons in Special Circumstances. It contains the information necessary for the investigation of such persons, which is collected in order to establish their location and identify unidentified remains.
The law prohibits any discrimination against missing persons and their relatives on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, membership of any social group, territory of origin or disappearance, economic or social status, sexual orientation, physical ability or other characteristics.
In addition, the Law supplemented the Criminal Code with Article 146(1) "Forced disappearance", according to which: "arrest, detention, abduction or imprisonment of a person in any other form committed by a representative of the state, including a foreign one, with the subsequent refusal to recognize the fact of such arrest, detention, abduction or imprisonment of a person in any other form, or the concealment of data on the fate of such person or place of detention, shall be punishable by imprisonment for a term of three to five years".
The results of qualification evaluation are determined for 1180 judges
The High Qualifications Commission of Judges of Ukraine has determined the results of the qualification evaluation for 1180 judges of local and appellate courts.
Qualification evaluation passed 974 judges or 82%. Other 206 judges, or 18%, are subject to dismissal or have already been fired. 113 judges, or 10%, did not confirm compliance with their position.
There are no final results for 252 judges due to the announcement of the interruption or suspension of the qualification assessment. Thus, the qualification evaluation is stopped for 185 judges. In particular, due to findings of the Public Council of Integrity that do not meet the requirements for their registration.
In addition, the Commission will launch an important procedure for the functioning of the judiciary - transfer of judges who have successfully passed the qualification examination to newly created courts of first and second instance without a competition.
It should be noted that at present, judges from the first group are in the last stage of qualification assessment - interviews and analysis of the dossier. The second group of judges took exams and is currently testing moral and psychological qualities. The third group is 2,188 judges who began examinations on July 2, 2018.
8th session of the Verkhovna Rada has completed its work
The eighth session of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the eighth convocation completed its work.
During the eighth session, people's deputies, in particular, appointed Lyudmila Denisova as the Commissioner for Human Rights and approved the Law on Anti-corruption Court.
The 9th session of the parliament of the eighth convocation will begin on September 4, 2018, and end on January 25, 2019.
As stated in the calendar of parliamentary work 9 weeks are scheduled for the plenary sessions of the Council; 7 weeks – work in committees, commissions, factions and groups; 5 weeks – for work of people's deputies of Ukraine with voters and 9 hours for holding «hours of questions to the Government».
Let's note, as the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Andriy Parubiyev informed, the first issue of the Council in September will be the renewal of the composition of the Central Election Commission of Ukraine.
The schedules of deputies take into account the regular sessions of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from 8 to 12 October 2018 and from 21 to 25 January 2019, festive and non-working days, as well as the days of religious holidays provided for in Article 73 of the Labor Code of Ukraine.
Five new courts registered
In the framework of judicial reform, the registration of new courts in the regions continues.
The Novograd-Volynsky District Court of Zhytomyr Oblast, the District Court of Kamensky, the Ichnyansky District Court of Chernihiv Oblast, the Novomoskovsk District Court of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and the Ivano-Frankivsk Appeal Court have been registered in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Individuals - Entrepreneurs and Public Formations.
Novograd-Volynskyi city court of Zhytomyr region, Bagliysky district court of Dneprodzerzhinsk, Dnipropetrovsk region, Zavodsky district court of Dneprodzerzhinsk, Dnipropetrovsk region, Dniprovsky district court of Dneprodzerzhinsk, Dnipropetrovsk region, Novomoskovsk city district court of Dnipropetrovsk region, Ichnyansky district court of Chernihiv region, Talalai district court Chernihiv oblast and the Court of Appeal of Ivano-Frankivsk oblast will carry out legal proceedings before the start of the new courts.
New courts will start working on the day of corresponding publications in the newspaper "Voice of Ukraine".
