Lack of judicial protection

In Ukraine, unfortunately, the judicial authorities do not adequately protect the rights and legitimate interests of citizens.

In 2016, during the judicial reform, the Supreme Court of Ukraine was liquidated. Instead, a new Supreme Court was created, which held a separate competition. According to the authors of the reform, such a procedure would make it possible to clear the highest court of unvirtuous judges. Parliament amended the Constitution and changed the name of the institution from the “Supreme Court of Ukraine” (SSU) to simply the “Supreme Court” (SC).

In February 2020, the Constitutional Court made a decision which declared the liquidation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine unconstitutional and called on Parliament to immediately correct the situation.

With this decision, the Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional the liquidation of the Supreme Court of Ukraine and the provisions on smaller amounts of lifetime salary for retired judges who have not passed the qualification assessment.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in case No. 11423/19 “Gumenyuk and others v. Ukraine” concluded that the liquidation of the Supreme Court of Ukraine during the judicial reform in 2016 is illegal. This is stated in the corresponding decision of the ECHR dated July 22.

The attempt to liquidate the highest judicial body of Ukraine violated 2 articles of the international Convention on Human Rights. In particular, the right to a fair trial is stated in the decision.

However, until this time, the Supreme Court is operating in Ukraine without Ukraine.

On December 13, 2022, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a law on the liquidation of the District Administrative Court of the city of Kyiv, which was initiated and then signed by the President of Ukraine.

After this, tens of thousands of cases that were currently being processed by the District Administrative Court of Kyiv were transferred to the Kiev District Administrative Court.

Since the main task of the District Administrative Court of Kiev was to resolve disputes between citizens and the central authorities, now these appeals are actually blocked, cases are not considered, and therefore the right to a fair trial has been initiated against the President of Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and other government entities in Kyiv.