Draft bill #9454 of July 3, 2023 

Sponsors: a group of 7 MPs from the Servant of the People faction 

Status: submitted to the Verkhovna Rada 

Who is affected: the High Council of Justice (HCJ), the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP), law enforcement agencies, and judges, including judges of the Supreme Court 

Summary of the bill: 

  • a mechanism for monitoring the work of the judiciary will be introduced: 
    • monitoring will be conducted by the HCJ if one of the judges of a court was charged with a corruption offense and the HCJ gave consent to their detention, arrest, custody, or temporary suspension 
    • the HCJ will monitor the work of all the judges of such a court for signs of disciplinary misconduct or gross negligence, verify their sources of income if there is a justified suspicion that they are illegal. The HCJ will be able to request the NACP to conduct a full check of judges’ asset declarations 
    • based on the results of the monitoring, the HCJ will be able to initiate disciplinary proceedings and hold a judge accountable 
  • the HCJ will be allowed to conduct psychophysiological examinations of judges using a lie detector: 
    • the purpose of the examination will be to get information about issues related to possible breaches of integrity or rules of judicial ethics and sources of property 
    • such an examination will be mandatory in the following cases: monitoring of the work of a court, competition for a judicial position, judge’s transfer to another court, and disciplinary proceedings against a judge 
  • to increase public respect for the title of Supreme Court judge, facilitate the authority of the judiciary, and strengthen trust in the Supreme Court, the HCJ will have to immediately start monitoring the work of the Supreme Court. 

What is right: the bill proposes to introduce a mechanism for monitoring the work of the judiciary which will be conducted by the judicial self-governance body. This could increase public trust in the judiciary. 

What is wrong: 

  • the use of a lie detector for verification. Scientists doubt the effectiveness of this tool, so there is no point in using it 
  • an obligation for the HCJ to monitor the work of the Supreme Court disregarding the grounds specified by the law. This obligation distorts the system of checks and balances since the legislator is making the judicial self-governance body take specific actions. 

Alternative solution: to exclude the requirement to use a lie detector and the obligation for the HCJ to monitor the work of the Supreme Court.