Two decisions that shaped Ukraine's public life on 17 July 2020
A look back at the day the Verkhovna Rada cut the number of districts and anti-corruption investigators named judges as suspects.
What did Ukraine's institutions do on 17 July 2020? Two things stood out: one reshaped the map of local administration, the other targeted the judiciary.
The Verkhovna Rada reduced the number of districts in Ukraine by more than a factor of three. The reform changed the territorial structure of the country in a single vote.
On the same day, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) announced a notice of suspicion against Pavlo Vovk, head of the Kyiv District Administrative Court (OASK), and other judges of that court. The suspicion concerned the creation of a criminal organisation and the seizure of power.
Taken together, the two events show a day on which Ukraine's legislature and its anti-corruption investigators each acted on a major institutional question: how the country is divided, and who sits in judgment within its courts.
