Ukraine is on the threshold of certain changes, but some aspects of state authorities remain bitter. One of them is the exorbitant salaries and pensions of judges, which as of 2024 will be shocking in their size. These sums are charged to judges, even though many of them were distinguished not only by making unfair decisions, but also by numerous corruption scandals.
At a time when average Ukrainians barely make ends meet, judges receive incredibly high salaries and pensions. According to the data of the Ministry of Finance, which developed and published
an analytical tool (dashboard) regarding wages and the number of employees of state bodies, local state administrations and judicial authorities in January 2024. Of course, the highest salary is received by the management of the courts, on average it is 142,000 hryvnias, for the heads of structural divisions – about 60,000 hryvnias.
– UAH 358.9 thousand – Constitutional Court of Ukraine;
– UAH 308.3 thousand – Higher Council of Justice;
– UAH 279.0 thousand – the Supreme Court;
– UAH 190.5 thousand – Higher Anti-Corruption Court;
– UAH 123.2 thousand – State Judicial Administration of Ukraine.
In addition, judges’ pensions reach 80-100% of the above amounts. While the average pension of other Ukrainians on average barely exceeds 4,000 hryvnias.
Such financial privileges of judges cause righteous indignation in society. Usually, the topic of pension provision is extremely painful. A person works all his life, and then expects a decent maintenance from the state, but the amount of payments often disappoints pensioners, rather than embodying the hope of a peaceful old age. But, as you can see, there are pensioners in Ukraine whose payments reach more than UAH 200,000
So, last year it became known that the Supreme Council of Justice made a decision on release resignation of the judge of the Supreme Court of the Cassation Economic Court Lyudmila Stratienko. The news of her dismissal caused a wide resonance in society, because during her work, Judge Stratienko received a salary in the amount of 2 million 675 thousand 423 UAH for the entire period, and after retiring with honor, she additionally received another 2 million 599 thousand 606 UAH from the state pensions Such exorbitant sums cannot fail to attract the attention of society. Let’s try to figure out where such payments come from.
Salaries and pensions of judges depend from the position held by one or another judge, as well as the level of the court instance. The heads of specific courts are additionally entitled to receive an allowance for their position. Judges of local and district courts are paid UAH 100,000 less than judges of the Constitutional and Cassation Courts of the Supreme Court, who earn UAH 359,000 and UAH 430,000 per month.
For example, KSU judge Oksana Hryschuk indicated in her declaration the amount of 4 million 309 thousand 987 UAH, and judge Kostyantyn Pilkov received a salary of 4 million 94 thousand 528 UAH. Last year, the head of the Court of Cassation Larisa Rogach declared about 5 million 162 thousand 321 hryvnias. The salary of the judge of the Higher Anti-Corruption Court, Inna Bilous, was UAH 2,183,974. The salary of the head of the Kyiv Court of Appeal, Halyna Balytska, was already significantly lower than that of judges of higher instances, amounting to 3 million 46 thousand 763 hryvnias
It is obvious that such a resignation for judges is a great way to get a life support of the state and also for such a significant amount. Only for the first half of 2024, the Supreme Council of Justice released 74 judges:
- 42 judges of local courts
- 10 judges of appeal courts
- 1 judge of the Supreme Court of Ukraine
- 7 judges of the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine
- 3 judges of the Higher Economic Court of Ukraine
- 9 judges of the Higher Specialized Court of Ukraine for consideration of civil and criminal cases.
Initially, it was believed that only those judges who have worked in their position for more than 20 years, have an unsullied reputation and have not been involved in high-profile scandals related to bribes will be able to receive a lifetime allowance. For such judges, retirement is considered honorable, they keep their own title, the state pays them a pension along with an additional monthly lifetime allowance. These payments are made from the State Budget of the country. Last year, the state already spent more than UAH 4 billion on the maintenance of judges. Judges’ pensions and financial assistance exceed the average pension level by 20 times.
For comparison, the average supplement to pensions of military pensioners can be cited, which is only 67 hryvnias. And this is at the same time when the allowances for former judges are being increased to 9.4 thousand hryvnias for their lifetime benefits. These payments are not subject to the maximum pension limit of UAH 17,690,000, so judges’ salaries often exceed UAH 77,000. If a judge has various disciplinary violations over the years of his career, he is dismissed with a pension on general terms, as for all citizens, and only after he reaches retirement age.
They always want more
Despite the exorbitant salaries and pensions of judges, there are many cases when they do not have enough. Increasingly, among the judges who are on life support, there are many judges of a younger age and with a dubious reputation. Complaints against bribe-taking judges are not taken into account by the relevant authorities, and judges skillfully avoid investigations into their illegal activities by resigning. These judges retain immunity and upon retirement receive payments equal to three monthly judges’ fees. In the case of unscrupulous judges applying for life support, a state mechanism should be in place to cancel their resignation.
“The law clearly says that resignation is an honorary title. Therefore, when certain actions are taken, which indicate that a person is unworthy of such a title, the resignation is terminated. First of all, if the judge, after retiring, was convicted of an intentional crime. After the sentence has entered into force, the Supreme Council of Justice shall recall such a judge from his resignation.” – tells about the application mechanism Roman Maselko, member of the Supreme Council of Justice.
The resignation of a judge can be revoked even if he acquires the citizenship of another country. Pending cases and complaints against a judge are automatically closed in the event of his resignation, effectively exempting him from punishment. The state needs to improve this mechanism, which will allow the VRP to stop consideration of applications for the resignation of judges. The problem of evasion of dishonest retired judges should be solved by the Higher Qualifications Commission, which will check these judges and dismiss those who have property of unknown origin.
Among the unscrupulous retired judges, one can cite many interesting ones examples. They were repeatedly reported by the mass media, for example, BIHUS.info Slidstvo.Info.
Volodymyr Ponomarenko, ex-judge of the Court of Appeals of the Cherkasy region, during his activity for a bribe of UAH 30,000, sought to help a drunk driver avoid responsibility. A few months before this incident, Ponomarenko had successfully passed a qualification assessment without raising any suspicions. And after the story with the bribe, Ponomarenko not only avoided responsibility by submitting his resignation on time, but also received UAH 1.4 million in salary, UAH 870,000 in severance pay, and UAH 100,000 in monthly allowance.
Anatolii Tselukh, judge of the Malinovsky District Court of Odesa, was dismissed for accepting a bribe of 2.5 thousand US dollars for speeding up the consideration of a housing dispute. However, thanks to this decision of the High Council of Justice, Tselukh received UAH 400,000 in salary and UAH 470,000 in pension.
The story of Oleksiy Buran, ex-judge of the Malinovsky district court of Odesa, is generally striking in its unusualness. Part of the bribe was found in the house of this judge during searches. But Buran himself defiantly resisted the law enforcement officers, opened fire on them with a pistol and escaped through the window. It seemed that for such actions the judge should have been immediately dismissed and sent to resign, but this did not happen. Instead, the case was deliberately dragged out for years in the courts, until the VRP sent Buran into honorable retirement. The judge’s lifetime allowance is set at UAH 1.6 million, and Buran still receives this money from the state.
In turn, the judge of the Supreme Court Iryna Saprykina made questionable decisions during her activity, violated the right to access to justice and the principle of transparency of the judicial process. Despite these illegal actions on the part of the judge, the Supreme Council of Justice easily decided on her resignation, as a result of which Saprykina received UAH 3 million in salary and an additional UAH 2.5 million in pension.
The head of the Dnipro District Court of Kyiv, Nelya Lastovka, grossly violated the law and failed her own qualification assessment. The consideration of this judge’s case was also systematically delayed until she was sent to honorable retirement. Lastovka received a pension of UAH 460,000, despite the fact that she was only 48 years old. However, Exsuddy’s greed knew no bounds and this money was not enough for her. That is why she obtained for herself through the District Administrative Court of Kyiv an increase in the amount of lifelong maintenance by an additional UAH 100,000 per month.
Last year, another scandal broke out in the Supreme Court – the then head of the Supreme Court, Vsevolod Knyazev, received a bribe of almost 3 million dollars. Despite the seizure of all accounts, Knyazev was bailed, so he has already been released from the pretrial detention center.
The judge of the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv, Serhiy Vovk, is known for his scandalous decisions in the cases of Yulia Tymoshenko and Yury Lutsenko, and has been repeatedly accused of corruption. According to the BIHUS.info investigation, Vovk owns luxury real estate that does not correspond to his official income.
Another example is the judge of the Kyiv Court of Appeal Oleksandr Babenko, who was accused of demanding bribes to make favorable decisions. His arrest became a real sensation, but, unfortunately, cases of similar actions among judges are not uncommon.
Viktor Tatkov, ex-head of the Higher Economic Court of Ukraine, is also suspected of illegal enrichment. According to investigations by Slidstvo.Info, his assets include numerous real estate properties both in Ukraine and abroad.
Last year, the State Judicial Administration did not leave the media due to the fact that the then Head of the State Administrative Court, Oleksiy Salnikov, was charged with inciting bribery of Supreme Court judges for ruling in favor of one commercial enterprise.
In addition, the State Audit Service for 2021-2022 found that 374 judges of local general courts did not administer justice, but still received payment of judges’ remuneration. It cost the budget over UAH 430 million.
Therefore, high salaries and pensions were intended to prevent judges from corruption. However, in practice, everything turns out to be completely different. The appetites of the servants of Themis know no bounds, and they are looking for new opportunities to receive additional funds from the state. As it turns out, these opportunities are completely illegal. If a person who stands on the guard of justice resorts to illegal acts, then what kind of faith can there be in the justice and effectiveness of the country’s law enforcement agencies?
Of course, not all judges disgrace the honorable title of guardians of the law. However, piles of cases against bribe-taking judges are piling up in the courts that are hearing their colleagues. The question of the objectivity of this consideration is rhetorical. And it is unlikely that this negative trend will change in the near future. Despite numerous calls for reforms, this area remains one of the most closed and unchanged.
