Strategy for reforming criminal justice may get moving

The Cabinet of Ministers has approved an action plan for implementing the Strategy for reforming criminal justice in Ukraine.  The Ministry of Justice which posted the information on its official site drew up the Strategy which the Minister of Justice says was passed by the Cabinet of Ministers on Thursday.  The Instruction issued apparently sets out clear stages for reforming the system.

In September, according to the Strategy, a new Criminal Procedure Code should be submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers for its consideration. Within six months of the adoption of this Code, a Code on criminal misdemeanours and a Code on administrative misdemeanours will be drawn up, as well as amendments to the Criminal Code, for example, limiting the use of punishments linked with deprivation of liberty.

By December this year the Cabinet of Ministers should prepare amendments to some legislative acts allowing for the transfer of the State Penal Service into the system of bodies of Justice. This same timeframe is set for drawing up a new draft version of the Law “On the prosecutor’s office”.

The Minister states that the plan contains around 30 points on drawing up draft normative legal acts and organizational measures needed to carry out reform of the criminal justice system. These include the creation of an anti-corruption body with authority to carry out pre-trial investigation into corruption offences; the preparation of a new version of the Law “On the Security Service of Ukraine”, as well as a draft law “On Internal Affairs bodies”, and others.

It is also planned to create a single system of statistics for the criminal justice system with one database on criminal offences, administrative misdemeanours, and punishment for them.

The Minister believes that this Strategy will make it possible to fundamentally democratize and humanize the work of criminal justice system agencies and strengthen protection of human rights in accordance with Ukraine’s international commitments.

From information posted at www.minjust.gov.ua