On May 20, the High Council of Justice (HCJ) conducted final interviews with two winners of the HACC competition: Tetiana Lytvynko, a judge of the Shostka City District Court in the Sumy region, and Olena Chernova, a judge of the Zolochiv District Court in the Kharkiv region.
Before that, the candidates successfully completed all stages of the competitive selection process, including special joint meetings of the HQCJ and the PCIE, which assessed their integrity and professionalism.
After reviewing the HQCJ’s conclusions and examining the candidates’ dossiers, the HCJ found no grounds to refuse the appointment of Tetiana Lytvynko and Olena Chernova as judges of the Anti-Corruption Court.
Members of the HCJ additionally questioned Tetiana Lytvynko about her work as an assistant to Judge Mariia Pryndiuk, who handled Maidan cases. The candidate could not recall whether she had prepared drafts of those decisions but confirmed that she had been questioned during the investigation of those proceedings. Lytvynko was also asked about a case concerning interference in the document management system of the Kyiv Court of Appeal, to which she responded that she was not aware of such cases.
Olena Chernova was also questioned by members of the HCJ. She assured them that she is capable of withstanding pressure and intends to make decisions independently, regardless of any prior opinions expressed by NGOs on a case. The HCJ also asked how she would respond in situations where she is offered to manipulate the automatic case distribution system. In response, Chernova said she would refuse to take such actions and, if necessary, report the incident to law enforcement.
In the end, the members of the High Council of Justice voted as follows:
Tetiana Lytvynko — 14 out of 15 votes in favor of the appointment
Olena Chernova — 15 out of 15 votes in favor of the appointment
The interviews with the HCJ marked the final stage of the HACC competition, after which the President of Ukraine must appoint the newly selected judges within 30 days. As a result, the actual number of judges at the High Anti-Corruption Court will increase from 37 to 39.
The competition is not yet over, as 23 out of 25 judicial positions at the HACC remain vacant.
Starting June 1, the High Qualification Commission of Judges will begin accepting applications from candidates seeking positions in the HACC Appeals Chamber. The HQCJ is also expected to announce a competition for judges of the HACC first instance in the near future.
These competitions are being held again because the previous selection rounds failed to fill most of the vacant positions. Of the 238 candidates who applied, only 2 for the first-instance court successfully completed all stages of the qualification exam, while none did so for the Appeals Chamber.
A new competition may be held under revised rules—if the President of Ukraine signs draft law No. 12331-2, recently adopted by Parliament with amendments. In particular, MPs removed the threshold requirement for the Ukrainian statehood test, allowed candidates who had previously failed to pass or did not appear for the qualification exam to reapply, and eliminated the additional HQCJ board meeting that used to take place after the interviews assessing integrity and professionalism.
Transparency International Ukraine actively advocated for the implementation of these amendments, including by submitting recommendations to the Committee on Legal Policy. Ultimately, MPs took some of our suggestions into account and adopted the corresponding amendments.
For its part, the HQCJ can also take steps to improve the competition process. The specific changes needed are outlined in detail in our comprehensive analysis of the problems identified during the second HACC competition.
We hope that the new HACC competitions will be successful and will make it possible to fill the vacancies with competent and ethical judges. It is worth emphasizing that filling these positions is also a requirement under the Ukraine Facility Plan, the implementation of which is tied to financial assistance for Ukraine.
The interviews with the HCJ marked the final stage of the HACC competition, after which the President of Ukraine must appoint the newly selected judges within 30 days. The competition is not yet over, as 23 out of 25 judicial positions at the HACC remain vacant.
