Election of the Head of the Commercial Court of Cassation

Today at 10:00 a.m., the Commercial Court of Cassation of Ukraine held the election of the Head of the court. We can’t boast that this election was a real show that can be watched with popcorn in hand. Everything happened quite peacefully and calmly, although some confusion and thoughtlessness of this whole action were felt. And the electricity blacked out as soon as everything started.

Why did we the confusion about the process feel? Let’s start with the fact that there was only one applicant for the position of the Commercial Court of Cassation of the Supreme Court — Larysa Rohach. It’s not much, but as the late classic said: “we have what we have.” No other candidates were nominated.

And despite all the importance of her role in today’s elections, there were some questions to Larysa Rohach.

First

Back in 2017, the Public Integrity Council came to the conclusion that Larysa Rohach does not meet the criteria of integrity and professional ethics. Since then, 5 years have passed, and in general, she does take her place in the Supreme Court.

Second

Mrs. Rohach is a secretary of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court. And according to clause 7 of Art. 45 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges”, a Supreme Court judge elected to the Grand Chamber cannot be elected to any administrative positions, except for the Secretary of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court.

This is where the discussions began. On the one hand, no one is against seeing Rohach as head of the Commercial Court of Cassation. But on the other hand — how to combine two activities simultaneously when there will definitely not be enough time for all things, and the law does not allow it? Another thing, judge Larysa Rohach does not claim to do everything and is ready to leave the post of secretary of the Grand Chamber. She even referred to clause 9 of Art. 45 of the Law “On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges”, which states that dismissal from the position of a judge and termination of their powers automatically terminates the powers of the secretary of the Grand Chamber. Although clause 8 of the same article states that the secretary is dismissed from the position by secret ballot.

Also, the Supreme Council cannot put on the agenda the issue of terminating the powers of the secretary at the meeting on the election of the Head of the Commercial Court of Cassation. And they even said, hey, let’s postpone the vote until Larysa Rohach terminates the powers of the secretary. Stop: what if she submits her credentials and is not elected the head of the Commercial Court of Cassation of the Supreme Court — so what? She will be left with nothing, and we will also have to get used to the new secretary of the Grand Chamber?…

In short, everything was leading to a rather obvious result — voting “for” or “against”. Because it is possible to elect the head today and to determine the date of entry into office after completing the duties of the Secretary of the Grand Chamber. Especially since there is already a similar precedent — the election of Vsevolod Knyazev to the post of the Head of the Supreme Court. He was also the secretary of the Grand Chamber at that time. And he proceeded to the duties of the Head of the Supreme Court after completing his previous powers. In principle, this is how it happened this time as well.

So:
22 judges voted “for”.
“Did not support any candidate” — 19 judges.
“Against” — 0.

Larysa Rohach will start performing her duties as the head of the Commercial Court of Cassation of the Supreme Court on January 6, 2023.

✍️Oleksii Chernetsky