Anticorruption Court Law Takes Effect

The Law of Ukraine On Higher Anticorruption Court has taken effect.

The law was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on June 7 and published by the Holos Ukrainy parliamentary newspaper on June 13, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

The document suggests that President Petro Poroshenko table a technical bill on establishment of the Anticorruption Court for consideration of the Ukrainian Parliament.

The Anticorruption Court will start operating after appointment of at least 35 judges of whom at least 10 should be judges of the Chamber of Appeal.

The ceiling number of judges will be determined later.

The Anticorruption Court is formed of judges, investigative judges and judges of a chamber of appeal.

The number of Anticorruption Court judges will be determined later.

The Anticorruption Court will hear criminal cases upon corruption investigated by the National Anticorruption Bureau (NACB), however, only in the case when such a crime exceeds the size of the living wage for able-bodied persons 500 or more times (at preset it is UAH 881,000).

Besides, the bill envisions establish of the Public Council of International Experts able to veto Anticorruption Court judges' candidacies.

The Council is established for the period of 6 years by the High Qualification Commission of Judges (HQCJ) and is an auxiliary body.

Council members are appointed on the basis of proposals from international organizations Ukraine is cooperating with in the field of prevention and counteraction to corruption under respective international agreements.

Members of the Public Council can be citizens of Ukraine or foreigners having irreproachable business reputation, high professional and moral qualities, working experience of at least 5 years in other countries.

The Council members will be remunerated with UAH 132,200, the wage of a Supreme Court judge and will also receive fare and accommodation compensation (for those living abroad).

The Public Council of International Experts collects, checks and analyzes information about judge candidates and hands it over to the HQCJ.

At that initiative of at least three Council members, a joint meeting with the HQCJ can be convened.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NACB) has called for a revision of the appeal provisions of the law On Higher Anticorruption Court.

According to the NACB, this provision deprives the prosecution and the defense of the right to appeal against sentences passed by an independent judicial body in cases investigated by the bureau over the past three years.

The NACB believes that appeals against sentences in cases investigated by the NACB should be considered by the Appeals Chamber of the Higher Anticorruption Court.