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What did Ukraine's court ruling mean for anti-corruption?
Summary
A look back at the Constitutional Court decision of 28 October 2020 and Belarus's border closure, as they stood on 30 October 2020.
What was the political picture in the region on 30 October 2020? Two developments from the preceding days framed it: a ruling in Kyiv and a border decision in Minsk.
On 28 October 2020, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine issued a decision that, as reported at the time, meant the end of electronic asset declarations. It also removed the powers of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention to carry out full checks and to monitor officials' lifestyles. The decision further meant the abolition of liability for illicit enrichment, of the confiscation of assets acquired through corruption, and of liability for false declarations.
A day later, on 29 October 2020, Belarus abruptly closed its borders with Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine, while leaving its border with Russia open. The closure came amid continuing protests against the Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko. He insisted that the move was meant to restrict the spread of COVID-19, which was then spreading through the country as elsewhere.
Taken together, the two decisions marked a tense end to the month for Ukraine: one changed the legal footing of its anti-corruption system, the other closed a frontier with a neighbour.
