A slew of controversial rulings have dealt a serious blow to Ukraine’s hopes to finally see the rule of law.
On Sept. 1, the High Council of Justice refused to remove Pavlo Vovk, a notorious judge implicated in top-level corruption. Before, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) released tapes where Vovk and other judges unambiguously discuss corrupt dealings.
But the NABU itself is in trouble: On Aug. 28, the Constitutional Court ruled that Artem Sytnyk, who has been the head of the NABU since 2015, was appointed illegally. Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelensky appears to be on board with these decisions: His office started referring to Sytnyk as acting head of NABU, and said they won’t comment on Vovk because it would mean intervening in the judicial system.
Read the Kyiv Post’s special coverage of the setbacks to justice in Ukraine, from its Sept. 4 issue:
Activists: Zelensky entrenches judicial corruption & impunity
Constitutional Court decision may kill anti-corruption agency
Bad court rulings spark outrage among reform experts
Whistleblower MP expelled from ruling party says Zelensky must go
Court hands Surkis brothers $350 million victory at PrivatBank’s expense
Op-ed by Tetiana Shevchuk: Pro-Kremlin MPs and oligarchs wage lawfare on Ukraine’s reform agenda
