With a view to supporting the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine (HQCJ) in assessing the compliance of candidates for positions of judges of the Specialised District Administrative Court and the Specialised Administrative Court of Appeal with the criteria of integrity and professional competence for the purposes of qualification assessment, as set forth in Section XII, “Final and Transitional Provisions,” of the Law of Ukraine “On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges” (hereinafter – the Law), an Expert Council is being established and will operate accordingly.
The Expert Council is an auxiliary and advisory body of the Commission, responsible for collecting, verifying, and analysing information about candidates. The primary mission of this body is to provide opinions and recommendations aimed at ensuring transparency and high standards in the procedures for selecting judges for specialised administrative courts.
In accordance with the Law, the Expert Council consists of three members nominated by the Council of Judges of Ukraine and three members nominated by international and foreign organisations that have provided international technical assistance to Ukraine over the past five years in the field of judicial reform and/or the prevention and combating of corruption.
The Commission has received nominations from the Council of Judges of Ukraine and from international and foreign organisations. A total of 15 candidates have been submitted.
The Council of Judges of Ukraine has proposed the following candidates:
- Olena Hanechko – a judge of the Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal;
- Oleh Holovenko – a judge of the Kyiv Circuit Administrative Court;
- Albert Yezerov – a judge of the Administrative Cassation Court within the Supreme Court;
- Vitalii Kalnyk – a judge of the Dnipropetrovsk Circuit Administrative Court;
- Kostiantyn Kobylianskyi – a judge of the Kyiv City Circuit Administrative Court;
- Serhii Kravtsov – an associate professor, Department of Civil Procedure, Arbitration, and Private International Law, Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University;
- Yevhen Synelnykov – a judge of the Civil Cassation Court within the Supreme Court;
- Valeriia Chorna – a judge of the Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court;
- Tetiana Chumachenko – a retired judge of the Supreme Court (The Council of Judges of Ukraine has reported the withdrawal of this candidate from the list of nominees for the Expert Council).
The European Union and the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) have submitted the following candidates:
- Robert Hein Broekhuijsen – a lawyer, judge of the Disciplinary Appeals Tribunal of the Bar Association, Kingdom of the Netherlands;
- Tilman Hoppe – a lawyer, leading expert in asset declaration and integrity verification, Federal Republic of Germany;
- Jessica Lott Thompson – a lawyer, senior legal advisor, legal reform specialist, Canada;
- Sigita Rudėnaitė – a judge of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Latvia;
- Edith Zeller – a judge of the Administrative Court of Vienna, Republic of Austria;
- Pavol Žilinčík – a senior legal expert, Slovak Republic.
The consideration of the appointment of members to the Expert Council is scheduled for the plenary session of the Commission on September 15, 2025. In accordance with the legislative requirements, the Expert Council will be deemed established and commence its activities if at least four members are appointed, including at least two nominated by international and foreign organisations.
The formation of the Expert Council marks another step in implementing systemic reforms in the field of justice and promoting European standards of judiciary in Ukraine. The Commission emphasises that the transparent and impartial work of this body will contribute to strengthening of public trust in judges and improvement of the quality of justice in specialised courts.