Prosecution Agencies Reform Launched in Ukraine

July 15, the Law of Ukraine “On Public Prosecutor’s Office” came into force to start reforming the Soviet-era system of prosecution in Ukraine. The number of the prosecutor’s offices in the country is to be reduced to about 180 agencies.

The law has changed the system of the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office, which now includes the Prosecutor General’s Office, the regional prosecutor’s offices, the local prosecutor’s offices, the military prosecutor’s offices and the specialized anti-corruption prosecutor’s office.

In July, the Ukraine’s Parliament adopted the amendments to the legislation on the prosecutor’s office, providing for appointment of the heads of the local prosecutor’s offices upon the results of the open competition for five years.

According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, the competition for 700 positions of heads of local prosecutor’s offices throughout Ukraine will be announced on July 20.

According to expert of the Political and Legal Reforms Center, Oleksandr Banchuk, the number of prosecutor’s offices in Ukraine will reduce to about 180 agencies. The expert hopes such reduction will not harm the citizens of Ukraine, while will help save the budget funds.

“The new lawyers are hopefully to come to the prosecutor’s offices system, at least to its lower levels. In addition, the process of establishing a special anti-corruption prosecutor’s office will start, as the Anti-Corruption Bureau will not be able to work without the anti-corruption prosecutors,” Oleksandr Banchuk said in a commentary to the Human Rights Information Center.

However, the expert considers subordination of the anti-corruption prosecutor’s office to the Prosecutor General, stipulated in the legislation, to be a significant drawback.