The law 'On the High Council of Justice' came into force in Ukraine
The idea for the High Council of Justice surfaced in Ukraine on September 30th, and it was considered a significant judicial reform for the country. However, the law "On the High Council of Justice" came into force on Thursday, January 5th. According to this law, the High Council of Justice (CHJ), which is a constitutional body of judicial self-government permanently operating to ensure the independence of judicial power, has to be created within 20 days through the reorganization of the Supreme Council of Justice (SCJ). In other words, the SCJ has to create a reorganization committee that will, in turn, create the High Council of Justice until January 26th.
According to the document, the CHJ will decide on the dismissal of judges and give permission for the detention or the arrest of a judge. Before this law came into force, to detain or to choose a preventive measure for a judge the Parliament’s consent was necessary. In addition, the High Council of Justice will have the power to: submit proposals to appoint judges, create bodies for hearing cases that are concerned with judges’ disciplinary responsibilities, make decisions to transfer judges from one court to another, decide on the number of judges on the court and participate in determining the national budget expenses for court maintenance and judicial authorities.