On October 29, 2021, an online roundtable discussion on “Cooperation of Different Branches of State Power in Ensuring the Integrity of Public Officials and Judges” was held. It was organized by the Supreme Court with the assistance of the Council of Europe Project " Support for judicial institutions and processes to strengthen access to justice in Ukraine ", the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the EU Project Pravo-Justice.
The objectives of the round table were:
- to discuss the role of the judicial review in ensuring the balance between the public interest and defending the rights of the individual in a democracy;
- to review in detail the European standards and practices related to the selection, attestation, and vetting the integrity of public officials and judges, including the European Court of Human Rights case law and the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) opinions.
The President of the Supreme Court, Valentyna Danishevska, in her speech noted that the search for opportunities to increase the capacity of the Supreme Court in the resolution of cases concerning public officials and judges is very important. She also added that the experience of other countries and the practice of the European Court of Human Rights will be useful in resolving these difficult issues.
The Secretary of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court, Vsevolod Knyazev, highlighted that the integrity of public officials and judges is one of the most important issues of public concern. He added that "the processes of vetting the integrity of judges is a complex and sensitive issue, as its conduct and dismissal of a judge based on its results is actually an interference with judicial independence". He noted that although most of these decisions, that had been made following the results of such processes of vetting and subsequently reviewed by the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court, were lawful and justified, there are certain problems that need to be resolved.
Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque, Judge of the European Court of Human Rights (2011–2020), professor at the Faculty of Law of the Catholic University in Lisbon (Portugal), addressed the issue of the independence of the judiciary in the context of the appointment of judges and the processes of vetting. He noted that judicial independence in many European countries is currently under threat and that the changes, taking place in these countries, are becoming a trend, the instrument of control and the pressure on the judiciary.
The Honorary President of the Venice Commission Anna Sukhotska noted that the Venice Commission has repeatedly given opinions on the procedures of vetting the integrity of judges and prosecutors. These procedures are implemented to identify individuals whose non-integrity may adversely affect the public authority in which they work, act against its independence and even destroy the judicial system.
Dmytro Tretiakov, Lawyer of the Secretariat of the European Court of Human Rights, Deputy Secretary of the Administrative Tribunal of the Council of Europe, presented to the participants of the roundtable the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights on the processes of vetting the integrity of public officials and judges in the context of urgent public interest and the need to combat corruption, noting the recent judgment “XHOXHAJ v. ALBANIA”.
