The Ukrainian Congress of Judges elected the last members of the High Council of Justice of Ukraine — this should unblock its work

The Congress of Judges elected three members of the High Council of Justice according to its quota. This allows to unlock the councilʼs work.

This is reported by Suspilne.

Tetyana Bondarenko from the Mykolaiv Court of Appeal, Olena Kovbii from the Kherson Administrative District Court and Serhii Burlakov, judge of the Cassation Civil Court within the Supreme Court, became new members of the HCJ.

Thus, judges have already filled all eight vacancies, and the Supreme Council of Justice will be able to start its work.

At the same time, the Anti-Corruption Center previously expressed remarks about two of these judges. Before being elected as a judge, Burlakov worked as a lawyer in Kharkiv and was closely related to the family of Oleksandr Feldman, a lawmaker from the banned OPzZh political party. Burlakov and his relatives, according to the ACC, visited Russia after the annexation of Crimea. The judgeʼs father lived on the territory of Russia and was its citizen.

According to activists, the judge of the Mykolaiv Court of Appeal Bondarenko also has systemic problems with income declarations and connections with Russia. The judge understated the value of her two Lexus cars and hid the facts of administrative violations while driving. Also, she made decisions without being at the workplace. In addition, the judgeʼs brother is a citizen of Russia, and his sister periodically travels there.

• The day before, the Congress of Judges of Ukraine announced the results of the election of five new members of the High Council of Justice.
• On August 15, 2022, the Verkhovna Rada elected two members of the High Council of Justice — Roman Maselko and Mykola Moroz.