The immunity of judges and removal procedures for immunity under the new legislation of Ukraine, 14 September, 2016
On 14 September 2016 the Member of the Disciplinary Chamber of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine Mr. Sergii Prylypko took part in the round table “Immunity of judges and procedures for the removal of immunity in accordance with the new legislation Ukraine.” The event was organized by the Council of Europe Project “Support to the implementation of the judicial reform in Ukraine.”
In the discussion regarding new legislation on immunity of judges and procedures for the removal of immunity by the High Council of Justice were involved the representatives of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine, Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, Supreme Court of Ukraine, High Specialized Court for Civil and Criminal Cases, High Administrative Court of Ukraine, High Commercial Court of Ukraine, High Council of Justice, the Council of Judges of Ukraine, National School of Judges of Ukraine, State Judicial Administration of Ukraine, NGOs and experts of the Council of Europe.
The event was organized to discuss the standards and recommendations of the Council of Europe on the immunity of judges and to inform the state authorities about the basic principles and guarantees to be followed when removing the immunity of judges.
The discussion was started with the opening remarks of Mr. Stanislav Kravchenko, Deputy Chairman of the High Specialized Court for Civil and Criminal Cases, Mr. Serhii Mohyl, Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Economic Court of Ukraine, Mr. Oleksandr Volkov, Judge of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, Mrs. Alla Oliinyk, Member of the High Council of Justice, Mr. Serhii Pietukhov, Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine on European integration, Mr. Plamen Nikolov, Legal Advisor of the Legal Cooperation Division of the Justice and Legal Co-operation Department of the Council of Europe.
During the round table the judge of the Supreme Court of Croatia and Council of Europe expert Mr. Duro Sessa described the Council of Europe standards on immunity of judges and removal procedures for immunity in Croatia. While speaking about the Council of Europe standards on immunity of judges as an important guarantee of their independence, the expert drew attention to the notion in Croatia which is called ‘functional immunity.’ It means situation when the total judicial immunity does not apply to judicial misconduct outside the scope of their professional activities. Mr Duro Sessa said that such immunity meets the needs of individuals and protects the integrity of judges.
Also during the event the participants discussed the constitutional changes and the new draft law of Ukraine “On the High Council of Justice” which provides new procedure for removing the immunity of a judge, and the next steps for the effective implementation of the new legislation.
Reference:
The Project “Support to the implementation of the judicial reform in Ukraine” is supported through the financial contribution of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and is a continuation of work of the Council of Europe on reforming the judicial system of Ukraine. It aims to ensure further approximation of Ukrainian judicial system to the standards and recommendations of the Council of Europe.
