High Qualification Commission of Judges continues interviews with candidates to the Supreme Court judges. On May 17 and on May 19 the Commission hold interview with acting Chairman of the Supreme Court of Ukraine Yaroslav Romaniuk.
Panel of the High Commission allowed Mr. Romaniuk to go to the next stage of the competition for the new Supreme Court judges disregarding negative opinion of the Public Integrity Council.
Romaniuk is known for actively voicing public support to the so-called “dictatorship laws” of January 2014. These laws were adopted by the parliament controlled by the Party of Regions to waive support to at the time president Victor Yanukovych in the midst of the Euromaidan protest against him.
According to information from the Public Integrity Council, Romaniuk also participated in adoption of court decision that was later repealed by the ECHR as violating the right for fair trial. However, panel of the commission accepted Romaniuk’s explanations that his decision violating the European Convention of human rights was a simple mistake.
Final decision on candidates recommended for appointment as the Supreme Court judges will be taken by the Commission at any moment after May 26. Personalized results of respective voting of the Commission will not be public.
Activists and experts demand the Commission to publish individual results of voting for the candidates who received negative opinions from the Public Integrity Council.
Panels of the Commission have conducted interviews with ⅔ of the candidates to the Supreme Court judges and so far have neglected 80% of negative opinions of the Public Integrity Council.