Arseniy Yatsenyuk: Reform of the judiciary is one of the key in the country

"I hope that together with the President of Ukraine and the factions that formed the constitutional majority in the Parliament we are to complete judicial reform and give judges the opportunity to be independent," Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk said at meeting of the Ministry Justice of Ukraine on Monday, June 22.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk reminded that the President of Ukraine had approved the Judicial Reform Strategy. The first step to such a reform, according to the PM, has already been made – it was approved a bill on the right to a fair trial. "This right must be implemented," he stressed.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk called judicial reform a key one, "which should go along with the reform of the Prosecutor's Office and the Interior Ministry."

The Government of Ukraine has introduced a package of five bills on a comprehensive reform of the Interior Ministry and bringing the Interior Ministry to European standards, including the creation of the National Police. The bills also relate to changes in the Security Service of Ukraine, as some of its powers are currently "similar to Soviet KGB."

"I hope that together with the President of Ukraine and the factions that formed the constitutional majority in the Parliament we are to complete judicial reform and give judges the opportunity to be independent," he underlined.

For this purpose, Arseniy Yatsenyuk emphasized, the court should be provided with funding: "This means that a judge should not receive UAH3000. This means that a judge has to possess appropriate guarantees that procedural law does not allow double interpretations and sometimes triple."

"On the other hand, this means that a judge in the case of an unjust decision goes to jail," he stressed.

The PM stressed the need to ensure access to justice in the framework of judicial reform - "so that a person should not pester all the instances and not wait for a court decision for decades." The Government has made its proposals for appropriate amendments to procedural law, both civil procedure and administrative procedure and criminal procedure.

"A lawful state is based on the law and the Constitution. A lawful state is based on justice, the right of appeal to the court, as well as on an absolute guarantee of the implementation of a court decision", Arseniy Yatsenyuk emphasized.