Civic movement CHESNO in its campaign CHESNO.Filter the Judiciary! provided 23 anti-corruption trainings “The judicial reform in Ukraine: instruments of public control” in all regions of Ukraine. 472 active Ukrainians joined our campaign during November-December 2016. This actions were suppodted by Swedish Government.

Local activists, journalists and students, and also local judges and court employee visited trainings in order to learn how to use methods and instruments of public control over the judicial system. Regional coordinators with participants had a possibility to become acquainted with challenges of judicial reform, discussed problems of judicial system in regions of Ukraine and possibilities of their participation in the process of clearance and renewal of the judiciary. Moreover, 28 trainers taught them to use methods and instruments of public control over the judicial system.

Despite the low level of trust in the judicial system, regional community engaged into anti-corruption trainings and expressed the desire to join the campaign. In particular, Olesya Kholopik, coordinator of the campaign CHESNO. Filter the Judiciary! noticed:

“Thanks for coordination and teamwork of regional coordinators we managed to hold the large-scale cycle of trainings in all regions of Ukraine for a very short time. We told about the most complicated and important reform in Ukraine. Furthermore, we presented the possibilities of public control that citizens have with the judicial reform”.

One of the most common problem of the implementation of judicial reform in Ukraine is not only the resistance of system, but also ignorance of society. According to lawyers of the campaign CHESNO. Filter the Judiciary!, judicial reform nowadays must not pass quietly and without public control, because all people should be informed about nuances of change and innovations of reform.

“There is a need to make sure that the work that you did to implement all changes is very important not only for whole country, but also for every person in this country. Recently only those who worked in the judicial system or those who faced with court in Ukraine have discussed the judicial reform. That is why the mission of these trainings for me was the only one tremendous thing – to tell activists, why the fair justice is important for every person and how civil activists could join to contribute in the process of clearance of judiciary” – said lawyer of the campaign Olga Levchenko.

Also regional coordinators shared their thoughts and impressions. For instance, Alyona Honcharenko, coordinator of the campaign CHESNO. Filter the Judiciary! In Poltava region was fascinated by the audience of the training, because in Poltava it was one of the largest:

“Number of participants exceeded the capacity of room where we held the training. Besides, the audience was diverse – law and journalism students, civil activists, regional authorities and judges. Overall, there were 37 participants who gain new knowledge and share their examples of working with judicial reform”.

Regional coordinators faced with the fact when members of the judicial system do not want to be open to the public. That is why they often do not respond in time to the requests for public information or limited information as more as they can. But coordinators are confident that they can help to cleanse the judicial ranks of corrupted judges.

The public campaign CHESNO. Filter the Judiciary! started in June 2016 by the initiative of the Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law (CEDEM) and for this short time we established of an activists’ network for the campaign. It is aimed to activate the public to cleanse the judicial ranks of dishonest judges and enact fair justice in Ukraine.