Kyiv, 13 October 2014 – Starting from 13 October one could submit a request for participation in work of the Civic lustration council. The statement was made by Ukraine’s Minister of Justice Pavlo Petrenko and Head of Civic lustration committee of Ukraine Yegor Sobolev at a briefing in the Ukraine Crisis Media Center. “The Law “On Lustration” foresees that the lustration body has to be formed first of all of civic activists and journalists. Inform us on your goals and your professional achievements in combating corruption. We are announcing competition-based selection and are inviting all people who would like to become part of the Civic council. We are expecting strong journalists-investigators, civic activists who have impeccable and long-standing reputation, experience and achievements in combating corruption to form the supervisory council for lustration process and become the controlling body,” – noted Yegor Sobolev.
Key selection criteria for the candidates to enter the newly-created body will be “crystal reputation, long-standing experience of combating corruption, reputation proved by actions and commitment to have the lustration checks applied on himself.” Requests will be accepted within a week. “Civic lustration council will not be holding lustration on its own. It is going to function as a coordination body only. Lustration will be held by state authorities, they will be controlled by the Ministry of Justice. The main function of Civic lustration council – a civic body being created under the Ministry of Justice, being impartial and independent from the state apparatus to accept the claims and have them directed to respective bodies that are holding checks and to law enforcement. And the most important thing is to control neutrality and timeliness when such cases are being considered,” explained Minister Pavlo Petrenko.
The Law “On Lustration” was signed by the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko on October 9th . The law foresees clear lustration procedure: to dismiss those civil servants who were on the highest posts in times of Yanukovych regime for over 1 year with no right to occupy any posts at state bodies within 10 years. “Both civil servants and civic activists who would like to control them have to be subject to lustration. Respective announcements will be placed on web sites of the Ministry of Justice and of the Civic lustration committee. It is no doubt that all volunteers will not be able to make part of the Civic council. I ask to take it with understanding as it has to be a working body. However all those who will not receive that special status have a much wider status of the citizen of Ukraine. I call on everyone to get involved in the checks without waiting for any special statuses,” said Yegor Sobolev at the briefing.