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On September 30, Bendukidze Free Market Center hosted a roundtable discussion on the judicial reform, organized jointly with the Reanimation Package for Reforms. It was part of the Agenda for Ukraine activities aimed at presenting the Ukrainian society a comprehensive program of rapid and fundamental reforms, the implementation of which will lead to high (above 7% per year) growth and ensure the successful transformation of the social sector (the health care, education, pension system).

Changes to the justice system featured in the Agenda for Ukraine were presented by Mykhailo Zhernakov, the leading expert of the judicial group of the RPR. According to him, the ultimate goal of the reform is the creation of a new kind of court: competent, impartial and equally fair to every Ukrainian.

The following solutions were suggested:

1. Corruption prevention in courts,

2. Complete change of the judiciary in the next three years on a competitive basis,

3. Making the judicial system closer to citizens,

4. The introduction of the electronic court,

5. Import of jurisdictions and judges from abroad for the transitional period,

6. Decentralization of the judiciary and maximum involvement of the people in administration of justice.

Volodymyr Fedoryn, the Co-founder of the Center, stressed the importance of the communication dimension of the judicial reform. "At the moment judges are viewed as a problem, despite the fact that perhaps 90% of them are not corrupt. Without overcoming this total distrust of courts we will have a process, not results. As long as judges, lawyers and legal professionals do not begin doing something worthwhile, there will be no change in the public opinion."

Bendukidze Free Market Center is an independent Ukrainian think tank established in 2015 by friends and supporters of the prominent reformer Kakha Bendukidze to promote the ideas of freedom, limited transparent governance and free market.

Reanimation Package for Reforms is the largest coalition of leading NGOs in Ukraine. Its strategic objective is to consolidate efforts of the public and make it the subject of policy-making, ensure the quality of proposed changes, promote and monitor the implementation of reforms as well as inform the Ukrainian society and international community about these transformations.