Court Strips Koziakov Of HQCJ Head Powers

The Kyiv District Administrative Court has deprived Serhii Koziakov of powers of a chairman of the High Qualification Commission of Judges (HQCJ).

The press service of the court has said this in a statement, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

The court reviewed applications for injunctive relief filed by Serhii Ostapets and Oleksandr Krotiuk, and decided to grant them.

The court imposed a ban on Koziakov to fulfill the powers of a member of the HQCJ, and also obliged another member of the commission, who would serve as a chairman, to include Ostapets into the HQCJ.

Ostapets was appointed on May 6 as a member of the commission instead of Stanislav Schotka by order of the head of the State Judicial Administration Zenovii Kholodniuk.

The Administrative Court considers that Koziakov and Schotka expired a four-year term of office, as they were appointed to office in 2014.

At that, at the time of their appointment, the current legislation established a six-year term of office for the HQCJ members.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, in December 2014, the HQCJ elected Serhii Koziakov as the chairman.