Critical underfunding of the judiciary will affect its quality and ability to complete reform.
Today, when Russia launched a full-scale war against Ukraine , due to underfunding of postal correspondence for both the Supreme Court and the courts of first and second instance, the work of any judicial institution may be suspended. At the same time, during the war, 10% of the staff have already left the judiciary, said in an interview with ZN.UA the chairman of the Supreme Court Vsevolod Knyazev, with whom Inna Vedernikova spoke.
“The big issue is the financing of the courts. Resources are very limited. And after the start of the war they were taken away and allocated. Understand correctly: we realize that money for the army is the main and primary task. However, the financing of postal correspondence for both the Supreme Court and the courts of first and second instance is currently completely blocked, which could lead to the suspension of any court. And this fact proves once again how important it is to implement e-court. Both for the sake of access to justice and for the sake of saving budget funds, “Knyazev said.
At the same time, underfunding concerns primarily the courts. The problem was very acute before the war, when workers were laid off en masse due to meager wages.
“In fact, raising the issue of financing the judiciary, I understand perfectly well that during the war it is difficult and ungrateful to talk about money. But it is even harder not to talk about our main task – to preserve state institutions. The court is one of the key ones. The situation is getting worse every day. The government withdrew 1.5 billion hryvnias from the same State Judicial Administration, which is about 12% of the annual salary fund. We must either lay off people or cut salaries. The main risk here is that as a result of the judicial system will lose most of the qualified staff, “- added the President of the Supreme Court.
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According to Knyazev, today the salary of a court employee is lower than that of a supermarket cashier. Although they are highly qualified civil servants, they take an oath, have certain restrictions and have a great responsibility. He noted that he would not like to lose all his intellectual potential. According to him, about 10% of staff are not ready to return to work.
“Currently, all decisions on this are made by the government. For our part, we are doing everything we can, hoping for oncoming traffic, “said Knyazev. . And on salaries of the device including.
“It should be clarified that Ukrainian courts are financed mainly from the budget and only partially (10%) from court fees. But in developed countries the situation is completely different. There, the courts are fully funded by court fees. However, in order for this mechanism to really work in our country, it is necessary not only to make certain changes to the legislation, but also to significantly increase the court fee rate. On average, everyone goes to court once in their lifetime. Today, going to court costs her an average of 200 hryvnias. Which is actually a very ridiculous amount to pay, pay for the Internet, use the information system, pay salaries to judges, staff, security, etc., “Knyazev added.
At the same time, he said, there is no increase in court fees. apply to privileged categories – pensioners, people with disabilities, single mothers, dismissed from work and others who are now completely exempt from this payment or pay the minimum.
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