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Nearly 250 judges sworn in as part of nationwide wave of hiring
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New staff must restore public confidence in the courts
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Strengthening the rule of law is key to joining the European Union
By Dan Peleschuk and Serhii Chalyi
KIEV/ZORIZHZHIA, August 23 – Ukraine’s newly minted judges have waited years for their jobs and know they must build trust in the courts if the country is to realise its European ambitions.
“Morally, you always have to be aware that you are a judge,” says Olha Vdovychenko, 37, a native of eastern Ukraine. She began working in the capital long after she had acquired the qualifications for her dream job.
“People always come to court with problems,” she said. “So you have to be approachable and person-centered.”
Vdovychenko’s recent appointment, along with nearly 250 other judges, is intended to help Ukraine establish the rule of law and finally end the Soviet legacy of corruption and impunity.
In Zaporizhia, near the front line in the southeast, works 44-year-old district commissioner Ievgen Zavgorodnii, a former anti-corruption investigator who took up his profession as a judge after fighting for Ukraine in the 2022 Russian invasion.
He served in the defense of Kiev and on the Eastern Front, rose to the rank of battalion chief of staff in the 72nd Mechanized Brigade, and misses his brothers in arms.
The transition was challenging, he says, but he is looking forward to the new job, for which he first applied in 2017.
“My job at the moment is to administer justice professionally, impartially and independently,” he said.
Their appointments – which had long been stalled by political wrangling before the war – follow a reform of the judicial administration sought by the European Union. Kiev is seeking accession in order to consolidate its departure from Moscow’s sphere of influence.
The war-weary population is increasingly unable to tolerate the authorities’ impunity. According to a survey conducted in March by the Kyiv-based think tank Razumkov Center, around 70 percent of Ukrainians do not trust the justice system. Their cynicism is fueled by years of corruption, which the authorities are now trying to prove and put an end to.
A former Supreme Court chief justice awaits trial on charges of accepting $2.7 million in bribes, a charge he denies. A judge accused of being drunk when he drove his Lexus to hit and kill a National Guardsman at a checkpoint is now facing charges. He denied being drunk when he was arrested at the scene and said he did not see the soldier in the dark.
Zavgorodnii, who was sworn in last month as part of the first wave of recruitment to fill more than 2,000 vacancies in the judiciary, said corruption in the sector was no more widespread than in other state institutions, but that judges had become more visible.
“For better or worse, because judges are the subject of intense social scrutiny, their mistakes are more noticeable,” he said.
Vdovychenko, whose grandfather was also a judge, said her conduct outside the courtroom was just as important as that inside.
“I think we also need to show that judges are ordinary people … that they really want to work in the interests of the people,” she said.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications.
