Victor Yushchenko attended a ceremony in Kyiv’s Mariinsky Palace to swear in seventy-one newly appointed judges, president's press office.
The President congratulated them on taking office. He said an effective judicial system was one of the prerequisites for the development of a free country. He added that our system, however, was plagued by corruption, which is “a great disgrace” for the country. He said the judges must eradicate it.
“I know that many of you entered law schools and took an oath today with such feelings and intentions,” he said.
Yushchenko urged them to restore the nation’s trust in courts.
“Our common task is to make the Ukrainian community understand that the rights of citizens are ABCs in any life situation,” he said. “An individual is in the center and the state stands aside, and not vice versa.”
The President said judicial reform was aimed at addressing these challenges.
Supreme Court Chairman Vasyl Onopenko, Justice Minister Oleksandr Lavrynovych, Acting Chairman of the Constitutional Court Valery Pshenychny and Chairman of the Supreme Administrative Court Oleksandr Pasenyuk attended the ceremony.
