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controlled by the Zelensky administration. There has been controversy too when the former President Petro Poroshenko administration tried to appoint unqualified foreign experts to the panel, who were also believed to be tainted and approved tainted judges on occasion.
As bne IntelliNews has reported, Ukraine has a corruption
problem, as corruption is not a problem of the system; it is the system. The ability of politicians to give and take away lucrative tenures is widely used as the basis of political power. Many in power have resisted the attempt to clean up the system as a result.
In addition to Vovk's case, other judges charged with corruption have also seen their cases weakened. For instance, the case against former Supreme Court head Vsevolod Kniaziev, accused by NABU of accepting a $27mn bribe, is faltering, with his bail being reduced several times to $1mn and other accomplices, judges Iryna Hryhoryeva, Serhiy Storozhenko, and Zhanna Yelenina, remaining uncharged, the Kyiv Independent reports. The NABU said in May that several other Supreme Court judges had also taken bribes, proven after NABU reported the serial numbers of the banknotes paid to Kniaziev as a bribe.
Judges of the Supreme Court have been accused of entrenching corruption by appointing tainted judge, Stanislav Kravchenko, as Kniaziev’s replacement as chairman of the Supreme Court. Kravchenko has failed to declare
some of his assets and violated human rights, according to a 2015 decision by the European Court of Human Rights, the Kyiv Independent reports.
The Constitutional Court's future also remains uncertain as discredited members have been appointed to a panel responsible for vetting future Constitutional Court judges. The fate of ex-Constitutional Court Head Oleksandr Tupytskyi, who was charged with corruption in 2021 and fled Ukraine, underscores the controversies plaguing the court. Tupytskyi was also sanctioned by the US that year.
“The Constitutional Court’s fate hangs in the balance as several discredited members have been appointed to a panel that will vet candidates for future Constitutional Court jobs,” Kyiv Independent reported.
One of the most important reforms would be to replace the judges on the Constitutional Court, however, here too there are problems as the list of candidates put forward by the Rada also contains the names of tainted judges. It also contains two candidates from Zelenskiy’s Servant of the People party, which is illegal due to a requirement of a separation of the judiciary and politics. This has led to speculation that part of Zelenskiy's plans for reform is to increase the president’s direct control over the machinery of government and the judiciary.
A Swiss study recently concluded that Zelenskiy is showing “authoritarian traits” as Ukraine moves towards a possible presidential election early in 2024.
“Ukraine is at a “critical point” in its democratic evolution
as it heads towards presidential elections in 2024,” said a confidential assessment by the Swiss Federal Intelligence Service, released in July.
17 UKRAINE Country Report December 2023 www.intellinews.com