Prosecutor General of Ukraine

The prosecutor general of Ukraine (also procurator general of Ukraine, Ukrainian: Генеральний прокурор України, romanized: Heneralnyi prokuror Ukrainy) heads the system of official prosecution in courts known as the Office of the Prosecutor General (Ukrainian: Офіс Генерального прокурора, romanized: Ofis Heneralnoho prokurora). The prosecutor general is appointed and dismissed by the president with consent of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament).[4] The prosecutor serves a term of office of six years[5] and may be forced to resign by a vote of no confidence in parliament.[4] The current prosecutor general, since 27 July 2022, is Andriy Kostin.[6]

Prosecutor General of Ukraine
Генеральна прокуратура України
Seal of the prosecutor general
Agency overview
Formed1917[1]
June 1922[1] (reorganization)
March 1936[1] (reorganization)
5 November 1991 (reorganization)
JurisdictionConstitution of Ukraine
Headquarters13/15, Riznytska st, Kyiv[2]
MottoЗакон. Честь. Гідність. (Law. Honour. Dignity.)
Employees15,000 (2017)
Agency executive
WebsiteOfficial website

The Prosecutor General's Office dates to 1917, established by the fledgling Ukrainian governments following the collapse of the Russian Empire, when the minister of justice held the office of prosecutor general.[7] In 1922, it was reorganized under socialist law after the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic became a founding member of the Soviet Union.[7] With adoption of the 1936 Constitution of the Soviet Union, the office became directly subordinated to the Prosecutor General Office of the Soviet Union;[7] this lowered the status of the office, with the prosecutor appointed by the Soviet Prosecutor General and having no government post in the Ukraine SSR.[7] Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Prosecutor General Office of Ukraine became an independent agency.[7] The office is directly proscribed in the 1996 Constitution of Ukraine.

Duties and powers

The prosecutor general is appointed to office by the president of Ukraine with the consent of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament).[8] The prosecutor is dismissed from office after serving a six-year term, or on order of the president,[8] or the prosecutor may be forced to resign following a vote of no confidence in the Verkhovna Rada.[4][8]

The powers of the office (from January 2017[5]) are to:

  • provide organization and leadership of pre-trial investigations;[9]
  • support public prosecution in the courts;[9] and
  • represent the state's interest in the courts, according to the law.[9]

The prosecutor general submits an annual report to the Verkhovna Rada about the legal situation in the country.

The prosecutor general creates a collegiate council consisting of the prosecutor general, their first and other deputies, the prosecutor of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea,[nb 1] and other leaders of prosecution agencies.

The prosecutor general office's General Inspectorate is an independent agency established to oversee the actions of the prosecutorial system.[13] Its goals are to modernize the Soviet-era bureaucracy, to enhance inter-agency efficiency and international cooperation, and to fight corruption.[14]

Structure

As of 21 December 2019[15]

Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Kyiv
  • Prosecutor's Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea
  • Prosecutor's Office of Cherkasy Oblast
  • Prosecutor's Office of Chernihiv Oblast
  • Prosecutor's Office of Chernivtsi Oblast
  • Prosecutor's Office of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
  • Prosecutor's Office of Donetsk Oblast
  • Prosecutor's Office of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast
  • Prosecutor's Office of Kharkiv Oblast
  • Prosecutor's Office of Kherson Oblast
  • Prosecutor's Office of Khmelnytskyi Oblast
  • Prosecutor's Office of Kirovohrad Oblast
  • Prosecutor's Office of Kyiv City
  • Prosecutor's Office of Kyiv Oblast
  • Prosecutor's Office of Luhansk Oblast
  • Prosecutor's Office of Lviv Oblast
  • Prosecutor's Office of Mykolaiv Oblast
  • Prosecutor's Office of Odesa Oblast
  • Prosecutor's Office of Poltava Oblast
  • Prosecutor's Office of Rivne Oblast
  • Prosecutor's Office of Sumy Oblast
  • Prosecutor's Office of Ternopil Oblast
  • Prosecutor's Office of Vinnytsia Oblast
  • Prosecutor's Office of Volyn Oblast
  • Prosecutor's Office of Zakarpattia Oblast
  • Prosecutor's Office of Zaporizhia Oblast
  • Prosecutor's Office of Zhytomyr Oblast
  • Military Prosecutor's Office of Joint Forces
  • Military Prosecutor's Office of Ukrainian Central Region
  • Military Prosecutor's Office of Ukrainian Southern Region
  • Military Prosecutor's Office of Ukrainian Western Region
  • National Academy of Prosecution of Ukraine

Separate organizations

Leadership
  • Prosecutor General – Iryna Venediktova (17 March 2020)
  • Deputy Prosecutor General – Viktor Trepak (8 October 2019)
  • Deputy Prosecutor General – Günduz Mamedov (18 October 2019)
  • Deputy Prosecutor General—Director of Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office – Nazar Kholodnytskyi (30 November 2015)

History

Early period
Serhiy Shelukhin, the first Prosecutor General[1]

The post of Prosecutor General of Ukraine was first established in 1917, following the dissolution of the Russian Empire. When the Ukrainian People's Republic was formed – after Ukraine declared its independence from the Russian Republic due to the Bolshevik's aggression – the post was held by the minister of justice.[1]

No. Term[1] Name
1 1917–1918 Dmytro Markovych
2 Serhiy Shelukhin
3 Mykhailo Chubynskyi
4 Oleksiy Romanov
5 Andriy Viazlov
6 Viktor Reinbot

Soviet period

After the occupation of Ukraine by Bolsheviks in June 1922, the Prosecutor's Office of the Ukrainian SSR was established.[1][16] The prosecutor general was appointed by the Ukrainian government and remained merged with the minister of justice until the 1936 Constitution of the Soviet Union came into force, at which point the republican prosecution office of Ukraine was subordinated to the prosecutor general of the USSR.

No. Term[1] Name Official title
1 1922–1927 Mykola Skrypnyk Procurator General
2 1927–1930 Vasyl Poraiko Procurator General
3 1930–1933 Vasiliy Polyakov Procurator General
4 1933–1935 Mikhail Mikhailik Procurator General
5 1935–1936 Arkadiy Kiselyov Procurator General
6 1936 Grigoriy Zhelyeznogorskiy Procurator General
7 1938–1944 Leonid Yachenin Procurator
8 1944–1953 Roman Rudenko Procurator
9 1953–1963 Denys Panasyuk Procurator
10 1963–1983 Fedir Hlukh Procurator
11 1983–1990 Petro Osypenko Procurator

Post-Soviet period
Prosecutor General of Ukraine
Генеральний прокурор України

Andriy Kostin
since 27 July 2022
AppointerPresident of Ukraine
with parliamentary consent
Term lengthSix years
Constituting instrumentConstitution Article 122
Inaugural holderDmytro Markevych (originally) / Viktor Shyshkin (acting)
Formation18 Jan 1918 (originally) / 5 Nov 1991 (post-declaration)
DeputyFirst Deputy
Websitewww.gp.gov.ua

Following Ukrainian independence in 1991, the prosecutor general wielded considerable power[9] as a legacy of the Soviet Union state prosecutor's office.[9] Many of the office's functions were expanded in 1991,[9] but in 2016 the powers of the office were decreased and limited.[9]

Prior to January 2017, the term of authority of the prosecutor was five years.[5] Since January 2017 this was increased to six years.[5] This list below shows prosecutors of independent Ukraine. In the absence of the prosecutor general, the office is headed by their first deputy as the acting prosecutor general.

No. Prosecutor General of Ukraine Name
1 4 Sep 1991 – 21 Oct 1993 Viktor Shyshkin
2 21 Oct 1993 – 19 Oct 1995 Vladyslav Datsiuk
3 19 Oct 1995 – 22 Jul 1997 Hryhoriy Vorsinov
act 22 Jul 1997 – 24 Apr 1998 Oleh Lytvak
act 24 Apr – 17 Jul 1998 Bohdan Ferents
4 17 Jul 1998 – 30 May 2002 Mykhailo Potebenko
30 May 30 – 6 Jul 2002 unknown
5 6 Jul 2002 – 29 Oct 2003 Sviatoslav Piskun
29 Oct – 8 Nov 2003 unknown
6 8 Nov 2003 – 9 Dec 2004 Hennadiy Vasylyev
7 10 Dec 2004 – 14 Oct 2005 Sviatoslav Piskun
14 Oct – 4 Nov 2005 unknown
8 4 Nov 2005 – 26 Apr 2007 Oleksandr Medvedko
9 26 Apr – 24 May 2007 Sviatoslav Piskun
act 24 May – 1 Jun 2007 Viktor Shemchuk
10 1 Jun 2007 – 3 Nov 2010 Oleksandr Medvedko
11 4 Nov 2010 – 22 Feb 2014 Viktor Pshonka
comm 22–24 Feb 2014 Oleh Makhnitsky[17]
act 24 Feb[18] – 18 Jun 2014[19] Oleh Makhnitsky(1)
12 19 Jun 2014[20] – 11 Feb 2015 Vitaly Yarema
13 11 Feb 2015[21] – 29 Mar 2016[22](2) Viktor Shokin
act 29 Mar(3) – 12 May 2016 Yuriy Sevruk
14 12 May 2016 – 29 Aug 2019[23] Yuriy Lutsenko
15 29 Aug 2019 – 5 Mar 2020[23] Ruslan Riaboshapka
act 6–17 Mar 2020 Viktor Chumak
16 17 Mar 2020 – 17 Jul 2022 Iryna Venediktova[3]
act 17–27 Jul 2022 Oleksiy Symonenko[24]
17 Since 27 Jul 2022 Andriy Kostin
Legend:
  • act – acting
  • comm – parliamentary commissioner

Notes:

  • ^1 Makhnitskyi served as acting prosecutor by being appointed by the acting president of Ukraine. Makhnitskyi is also the only head of the office in the post-Soviet Ukraine who served as a parliamentary commissioner.
  • ^2 Shokin was set to be formally dismissed since 16 February 2016[4][25] after submitting a letter of resignation and taking a vacation.[26] On 16 March Shokin returned to his duties as if he never submitted any letters of resignation.[27] He was formally dismissed in a parliamentary vote on 29 March 2016.[28]
  • ^3 Yuriy Sevruk served as acting prosecutor, being the first deputy general prosecutor until the official appointment of a new Prosecutor General.[27]

See also

Notes
  1. Since the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, the status of the Crimea and of the city of Sevastopol is under dispute between Russia and Ukraine; Ukraine and the majority of the international community considers the Crimea and Sevastopol an integral part of Ukraine, while Russia, on the other hand, considers the Crimea and Sevastopol an integral part of Russia, with Sevastopol functioning as a federal city within the Crimean Federal District.[10][11][12]

References
Politics of Ukraine
Constitution
Presidency
Executive
Legislature
Judiciary
Local government
Elections
Foreign relations
See also
flag Ukraine portal
  1. "Історія прокуратури України" [History of the Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine]. Prosecutor's Office of Mykolaiv Region (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 27 March 2020.
  2. "Official website of the authority. Contact Us". 2017. Archived from the original on 5 December 2020. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  3. Ukrainian Investigative Director Who Clashed With Activists Approved As Prosecutor-General, Radio Free Europe (March 17, 2020)
  4. Chief prosecutor Shokin back to work – source, Interfax-Ukraine (16 March 2016)
  5. "Закон про Вищу раду правосуддя запрацював" [The law on the High Council of Justice has come into force]. Ukrayinska Pravda (in Ukrainian). 5 January 2016.
  6. Sukhov, Oleg (27 July 2022). "Andriy Kostin appointed prosecutor general. Here's what we know about him". The Kyiv Independent. Archived from the original on 27 July 2022.
  7. "ГЕНЕРАЛЬНИЙ ПРОКУРОР УКРАЇНИ" [Prosecutor General of Ukraine] (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  8. Z"Chief prosecutor Shokin on leave – PGO". Interfax-Ukraine. 17 February 2016.
  9. "Amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine passed: Ukraine takes a major step towards a European System of Justice]". Lexology. 9 June 2016.
  10. Gutterman, Steve (18 March 2014). "Putin signs Crimea treaty, will not seize other Ukraine regions". Reuters.com. Archived from the original on 18 March 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
  11. Ukraine crisis timeline, BBC News
  12. UN General Assembly adopts resolution affirming Ukraine's territorial integrity Archived 2018-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, China Central Television (28 March 2014)
  13. "U.S. prosecutor tasked with selecting officers to oversee prosecutors' actions". UNIAN. 9 August 2016.
  14. "U.S. prosecutor tasked with selecting officers to oversee prosecutors' actions". UNIAN. 9 August 2016.
  15. СТРУКТУРА Офісу Генерального прокурора (затверджено наказом Генерального прокурора від 21.12.2019 №99-шц. Prosecutor General Office of Ukraine
  16. Hlukh, Fedir. "ПРОКУРАТУРА УРСР" [The Prosecutor's Office of the Ukrainian SSR]. Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia (in Ukrainian).
  17. On appointment of Makhnitsky O.I. the Commissioner to monitor the activities of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine. RESOLUTION of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine № 760-VII. February 22, 2014
  18. On appointment of O.Makhnitsky as acting General Prosecutor of Ukraine. DECREE OF THE PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE № 91/2014. February 24, 2014
  19. Ukrainian president dismisses Makhnitsky as acting prosecutor general, Interfax-Ukraine (18 June 2014)
  20. MPs agree to Yarema's appointment as prosecutor general, Interfax-Ukraine (19 June 2014)
  21. Ukrainian parliament backs nomination of Shokin as prosecutor general, Interfax-Ukraine (10 February 2015)
  22. Rada agreed to dismiss Shokin. Ukrayinska Pravda. 29 March 2016
  23. The new Attorney General was a former NAPC member, Ukrayinska Pravda (29 August 2019)
  24. "Указ Президента України No 501/2022 – Про покладення виконання обов'язків Генерального прокурора'" [Presidential decree No. 501/2022 – On taking over the duties of the Prosecutor General]. Office of the President of Ukraine (in Ukrainian). 17 July 2022. Archived from the original on 20 July 2022. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
  25. Profile committee recommends parliament back prosecutor general's resignation, Interfax-Ukraine (16 March 2016)
  26. The Prosecutor General Office: Shokin wrote a resignation letter, but at this time he is on vacations. Ukrayinska Pravda. 29 March 2016
  27. The office of Prosecutor General explained who will be an acting Prosecutor General. Ukrayinska Pravda. 29 March 2016
  28. Rada agrees to dismiss Ukrainian Prosecutor General Shokin, Interfax-Ukraine (29 March 2016)
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