PACE concerned over stalling on judicial reform
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe [PACE] is disturbed by the stalling in Ukraine of work on passing new legislation on reforming the judicial system. This was the message at a meeting between a PACE delegation from the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, headed by the Committee’s Co-rapporteur Christos Purgurides, and Ukraine’s Minister of Justice Mykola Onishchuk.
Members of the delegation note that there remain problems with lengthy court proceedings and non-enforcement of domestic court rulings. They also pointed to problem areas with the independence of the judicial system, the inability to ensure protection of life, effective investigations and other problems which do not meet European standards.
The Minister informed the delegation of legislative initiatives being carried out, including by the Ministry of Justice. He mentioned the fact that the new Criminal Procedure Code had been presented for consideration at one of the last meetings of the Cabinet of Ministers. This Code, he stressed, had received favourable reviews from international experts and was designed at introducing European standards.
The Minister also mentioned that a draft law “On protection of the right to pre-trial proceedings, court examination and enforcement of court rulings within a reasonable period” which has already received the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers and been sent for parliament’s consideration.
The possibility was also discussed of sending to the Venice Commission the draft law which merges the draft laws on the judicial system and on the status of judges which were passed at their first reading.
More information about the faltering moves to achieve judicial reform can be found here http://helsinki.org.ua/en/index.php?id=1247044231 and in detail in the section of the annual report on the right to a fair trial here: http://khpg.org.ua/en/index.php?id=1246096856
Information about the meeting from the Ministry’s website at www.minjust.gov.ua