It is impossible to dismiss all judges of the Supreme Court at the same time during the war, so the HCJ and NABU should clean up the institution - political expert

The Supreme Court needs to be cleared of dishonest judges, but not by dismissing all judges at once, as this could paralyze the judicial system during the war. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the High Council of Justice should work on the purge. This opinion was expressed by political scientist Hennadiy Dubov in an exclusive commentary to UNN.

"In my opinion, with regard to purging such judges, the NABU is actually doing this, exposing judges who receive undue benefits by bringing them to criminal liability and preventing or should prevent what you are talking about, corruption in the courts. In addition, it is very desirable that the HCJ starts working properly, it has already acquired all the necessary tools to clean up the judiciary, and if it uses them properly - including dismissing judges for breaking their oath, and it has such powers - then everything will be better," Dubov said.

At the same time, he believes that the simultaneous dismissal of all Supreme Court judges during the war paralyzes the judicial system, which is now at least somehow functioning.

"Therefore, during the war, radical reforms should not be allowed, but of course, it is necessary to clean up. We can simply finish off the judiciary with reform," the political scientist noted.

He reminded that the judicial reform that began in Ukraine after the Revolution of Dignity has not yet been completed, in particular, the High Court of Intellectual Property has not yet been established.

At the same time, Dubov reminded that law enforcement agencies have every opportunity to bring dishonest judges to justice. "Coming back to law enforcement agencies, they had and continue to have all the tools to bring such judges to justice. The issue is the implementation of these tools," he said.

Recall

The media reported about the possible bribery of Supreme Court judges Vyacheslav Marynych, Volodymyr Korol and Alla Makarovets, who considered the appeal against Shepelev's sentence and changed it in favor of the former MP, almost releasing him. Hryhoriy Mamka, an MP from the banned Opposition Platform For Life, is allegedly involved in this.

In particular, the panel of judges of the Supreme Court decided to close one of the episodes of the case, which concerned bribery, due to, in their opinion, insufficient evidence. As a result, the property of the former MP will not be confiscated under this episode . Although, according to experts interviewed by UNN, the Supreme Court judges did not have the right to directly examine any evidence.

In addition, the judges counted the period of Shepelev's stay in the Russian pre-trial detention center as part of the sentence. He was detained in Russia following an extradition request from Ukraine. A year later, Russia refused to extradite the fugitive ex-MP to Ukraine, citing threats to its own national security. It turned outthat Shepelev was valuable to Russia because he was an FSB agent and a game player. 

The Supreme Court panel also used the Savchenko law and counted Shepeleva's stay in the pre-trial detention center on charges in other cases as part of his sentence. 

The prosecutor appealed the actions of the Supreme Court judges to the HCJ.  

According to the automatic distribution , the complaint in Shepelev's case will be considered by the first ever HCJ member judge who fought at the front against Russia, Olena Kovbiy. 

Volodymyr Vatras, chairman of the subcommittee on the organization and activities of the Bar and legal aid bodies of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Legal Policy, said in a commentary to UNN  that the Supreme Court  needs to be cleared of judges who have compromised themselves. However, the reform needs to be approached in a balanced manner, and the relevant parliamentary committee is working on it.

Kateryna Butko, head of the public council at the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC), also believesthat the Supreme Court needs to be reformed and cleared of dishonest judges, so that cases such as that of ex-FSB agent MP accused of a series of contract killings and high treason, Oleksandr Shepelev, will be considered transparently and efficiently. 

Lawyer, executive director of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union Oleksandr Pavlichenko told UNN that the High Council of Justice is tasked with forming an independent judicial system in Ukraine without political influence.