"Lithuania has travelled a long way towards making its judicial system more transparent and changing the Soviet approach to justice and human rights. Courts in a democratic state must be independent and open to the public. Ukraine is on the right track and it puts a lot of effort into achieving this. We are always ready to help. Our experts are already contributing to implementing Ukraine's judicial reform," the President said.
Changes in Lithuania are evident: this year for the first time in two decades, trust in courts is higher than mistrust. To improve the quality of the work of courts, stricter requirements for selecting judges have been introduced, the leadership of the judiciary has been renewed by 69 percent, the corps of judges – by 20 percent, and 17 judges have been dismissed for discrediting the name of the judge. Cases are allocated to judges on a random basis, with the help of a computer program, and all court hearings are recorded. This has allowed to reduce the subjectivity of courts and has made corruption less likely. Lithuanian courts are among the leaders in the EU as regards deadlines for examining civil cases and openness to the public.
According to the President, the ongoing judicial reform in Ukraine will improve the protection of human rights, reduce large-scale corruption, ensure greater public trust in courts and increase the independence of judges.
Lithuanian representatives together with experts from other EU countries help Ukraine to implement not only judicial, but also other reforms. Our specialists work in the Ukrainian Government, in special working groups, in business supervision, OSCE monitoring missions, and in the EU delegation to Ukraine. A Lithuanian representative also works in a specially formed Constitutional Commission of Ukraine for proposing constitutional amendments.
The judicial reform is part of the ongoing constitutional reform in Ukraine. It includes the restructuring of courts, improvements in the human rights situation and in the operation of Ukraine's local municipalities, as well as the effective decentralization. An important law on the prosecutor's office, described as key in reforming Ukraine's judicial system, was passed last year. This autumn, Ukraine has begun the largest ever renewal of its prosecutorial staff.
