Ukrainians don’t believe in justice, as evidenced by the latest surveys. Only 1.7% trust the Ukrainian judiciary, while 11.3% “rather trust” it.
The Ukrainian authorities, experts, and representatives of the West (see the publication by Radio Liberty) speak about the need for a judicial reform. Following the news on the absence of the IMF tranche, which means the absence of the reform, the discussion of these issues intensified.
Nobody wants to deal with a country where there is no justice, says Andrii Borovyk, executive director of Transparency International Ukraine.
“The last two months in Ukraine have been the most illustrative: think of Tatarov’s case. And decisions in such high-profile cases may indicate a very bad trend: if there is no rule of law in the country, then international financial institutions do not work with such countries,” warns Borovyk.
To begin the judicial reform, experts recommend replicating the successful practice of HACC formation, as well as rebooting the HCJ and the HQCJ. However, the judiciary itself is not interested in being reformed, says Andrii Borovyk. Like the biggest Ukrainian oligarchs, they are mostly satisfied with the status quo.
“Over the last 10-20 years, a kind of judicial mafia has developed in Ukraine, which is most satisfied with what happened before the first attempt at reform under Poroshenko. Nobody minded them back then, they had an awesome life,” he explains.
The most important thing in the judiciary is not formal changes in the system or judges’ wealth but decisions made by the judges; it would take at least 5–10 years to change that. This is urgent: Ukraine has already lost more than a year, and there is no guarantee that it will not waste time in the future, says Andrii Borovyk.
We remind you that the President has recently initiated three draft laws to overcome the crisis in the judiciary. However, they are criticized by civil society organizations.
Source: www.radiosvoboda.org
