Venice Commission to assess judicial reform in Ukraine

The request was sent by the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe last week, according to Ukrinform's correspondent in Strasbourg.

"The Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe requested the opinion of the Venice Commission on the recent amendments to the legal framework in Ukraine governing the Supreme Court and judicial self-governing bodies," the Venice Commission said.

On October 1, Secretary General of the Council of Europe Marija Pejcinovic Buric in a letter to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko expressed concern about legislative proposals on judicial reform in Ukraine that could limit the independence of the judiciary. In particular, the issue concerns draft law No. 1008 "On Amendments to Some Laws of Ukraine on the Functioning of Judicial Governance," approved by the Verkhovna Rada at first reading.

She noted that the bill puts forward wide-ranging changes that "could have significant implications for the independence of the judicial system," in particular "the status and competencies of judges, as well as relating procedures."

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