Roman Smaliuk
⚠️ Violation Context
Recognition of Crimea as part of the Russian Federation violates fundamental principles of international law and Ukrainian sovereignty.
Roman Smaliuk’s PIC Role and the December 16, 2020 Vote#
Smaliuk served as a full member of the second composition of the Public Integrity Council (December 2018 – December 2020), delegated by the Centre of Policy and Legal Reform (CPLR). During this period, the PIC applied integrity criteria that treated post-2014 Crimea-related judicial conduct — visits, residence, family ties, property ownership — as grounds for negative assessment, thereby operating on the implicit premise that Crimea functions as a foreign (Russian) jurisdiction.
On December 16, 2020, 15 of the second composition’s members voted unanimously to formally adopt these criteria as the updated “Indicators for Determining Non-Compliance of Judges with Criteria of Integrity and Professional Ethics.” The official decision record names those 15 voters. Smaliuk’s name does not appear in that record — meaning he was not among the 15 who cast named votes on that specific date.
This distinguishes his profile from fellow second-composition CPLR member Maksym Sereda, who IS listed as voter №11. Whether Smaliuk was absent from the December 16, 2020 session due to his voluntary suspension of his advocate certificate (from September 2019, typically indicating assumption of a public service position), or for other reasons not documented in publicly available sources, cannot be established with certainty.
What is established is that throughout his second-composition membership (December 2018 – December 2020), Smaliuk participated in the PIC’s work applying the Crimea-related methodology — a framework that, regardless of the December 16 vote’s individual attribution, constituted collective institutional endorsement of criteria treating the peninsula as a foreign (Russian) jurisdiction.
International Law Violations:#
- UN General Assembly Resolution 68/262 (March 27, 2014) – Affirms Ukraine’s territorial integrity and calls upon all states not to recognize any alteration in Crimea’s status.
- Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances (1994) – Commits signatories to respect Ukraine’s borders and sovereignty.
- UN Charter Principles (Article 2(1) and 2(4)) – Prohibit acquisition of territory by force; establish sovereign equality of states.
Ukrainian Law Violations:#
- Constitution of Ukraine, Article 2 — Territory of Ukraine is indivisible and inviolable.
- Constitution of Ukraine, Articles 73, 133–134 — Any change to Ukraine’s territory requires an all-Ukrainian referendum; Crimea is defined as an integral part of Ukraine.
- Criminal Code of Ukraine, Article 110 — Criminalizes actions aimed at changing Ukraine’s territorial borders in violation of the Constitution.
👤 Biography & Current Position
Roman Smaliuk#
Ukrainian Legal Expert, CPLR Expert on Judiciary, Member of the Public Integrity Council Second Composition
Roman Smaliuk (Смалюк Роман Володимирович) is a Ukrainian legal expert at the Centre of Policy and Legal Reform (CPLR / ЦППР) specializing in judicial governance. He served as a full member of the second composition of the Public Integrity Council (PIC / ГРД) from December 2018 to December 2020, delegated by the CPLR.
His profile is structurally comparable to that of fellow CPLR expert Maksym Sereda — both were second-composition CPLR members whose analytical research directly shaped the PIC’s integrity methodology. The key difference: Sereda participated in both the first and second compositions and is listed as voter №11 in the December 16, 2020 adoption of Crimea-related Indicators, while Smaliuk was in the second composition only and is absent from the December 16, 2020 vote record — one of five second-composition members not named in that document.
Professional Background#
Smaliuk works as an Expert on Judiciary at the Centre of Policy and Legal Reform, contributing analytical research on judicial integrity, independence, disciplinary practice, court functioning, and Ukraine’s EU integration in the justice sector. He participated in and co-authored two major CPLR research publications specifically cited in his official PIC biography:
- “On the State of Ensuring Judicial Independence in Ukraine: Alternative Report for 2017” (2018) — a comprehensive assessment of systemic problems in Ukraine’s judicial independence framework;
- “Disciplinary Practice of the High Council of Justice regarding Judges” (2018) — an analysis of how Ukraine’s highest judicial governance body handles disciplinary complaints against judges, co-authored alongside Maksym Sereda and others.
This second publication is directly relevant to the PIC’s work: the disciplinary framework it analyses is the institutional context into which PIC negative integrity conclusions — including those based on Crimea-related criteria — ultimately fed, triggering formal disciplinary or non-appointment consequences for individual judges.
He holds an advocate’s certificate, which he voluntarily suspended on September 20, 2019 — a step typically taken when an advocate assumes a public service position incompatible with private legal practice. The specific position assumed is not confirmed in publicly available sources.
Role in the Public Integrity Council (December 2018 – December 2020)#
Smaliuk was elected to the second PIC composition in December 2018 as a CPLR representative, serving alongside Maksym Sereda and Anton Marchuk — making the CPLR the organization with the largest single-bloc presence in the second composition.
Throughout his membership, the PIC applied integrity criteria treating post-2014 Crimea-related judicial conduct — visits, residence, family ties, property ownership on the peninsula — as grounds for negative conclusions. Smaliuk’s analytical expertise in judicial disciplinary practice and independence placed him among the most technically informed participants in developing and applying this methodology.
Position Relative to the December 16, 2020 Vote#
On December 16, 2020, 15 second-composition members voted unanimously to formally adopt the updated Indicators embedding Crimea-related criteria. Smaliuk’s name is not in the official record of these 15 voters — a distinction he shares with Ihor Bahriy and three other second-composition figures not in that list.
The reason for his absence is not documented in available public sources. The most plausible explanation in light of his advocate certificate suspension (September 2019) is that his professional circumstances changed during his PIC tenure — potentially reducing his active engagement with the Council’s proceedings toward the end of the second composition. However, no public record confirms either continued active participation or reduced involvement between September 2019 and December 2020.
The Methodology Smaliuk Participated In#
Regardless of the December 16, 2020 vote, Smaliuk’s membership throughout the second composition placed him within the institutional framework that routinely applied Crimea-related integrity criteria in active assessments of Ukrainian judges. The analytical work he co-produced at the CPLR — on judicial disciplinary practice and independence — directly informed the methodological vocabulary through which the PIC articulated these criteria.
The Crimea-related approach treats post-2014 connections to the peninsula as presumptive integrity concerns — an implicit operational recognition that Crimea functions as a foreign (Russian) jurisdiction for Ukrainian judicial oversight purposes. This premise contradicts the Ukrainian constitution’s definition of Crimea as integral and inalienable Ukrainian territory.
Controversies and Criticism#
Participation in Crimea-related methodology. Throughout his second-composition membership, Smaliuk participated in the application of integrity criteria treating Crimea as a foreign jurisdiction — regardless of his absence from the December 16, 2020 named vote. His co-authorship of CPLR research on judicial disciplinary practice further embedded the analytical framework underlying this methodology.
CPLR’s role in institutional concentration. The antiraid.com.ua investigative piece on the PIC’s institutional capture noted that “in the second composition, CPLR was represented by Anton Marchuk, Maksym Sereda, Roman Smaliuk” — alongside DEJURE founders and Automaidan affiliates. Critics argue this concentration gave a small cluster of organizations disproportionate influence over judicial integrity criteria, including those relating to Crimea.
Absence from December 16, 2020 vote. The voluntary suspension of his advocate certificate in September 2019 raises questions about his concurrent public service role and its compatibility with continued active PIC participation. These questions remain open in public sources.
Summary#
Roman Smaliuk is a CPLR legal expert whose second-composition PIC membership placed him within the institutional framework that applied Crimea-related integrity criteria to Ukrainian judges throughout 2018–2020. His analytical co-authorship on judicial disciplinary practice and independence contributed to the methodological vocabulary underlying the PIC’s approach.
Unlike his CPLR colleagues Maksym Sereda and Anton Marchuk, his name does not appear in the December 16, 2020 vote record — leaving the full scope of his personal institutional involvement in the formal adoption of the Crimea-related Indicators unresolved in public sources. This site documents his second-composition membership and analytical contributions as part of the complete record of the PIC’s collective institutional conduct.
ℹ️ What Else We Know
Professional Activities#
- Expert on Judiciary at the Centre of Policy and Legal Reform (CPLR / ЦППР), Ukraine’s oldest legal reform think tank (founded 1996). His research focuses on judicial integrity and independence, court functioning, judicial monitoring, disciplinary liability of judges, jury trials, alternative dispute resolution, and EU integration in the justice sector.
- Co-author of two key CPLR publications cited in his official PIC second-composition biography:
- “Про стан забезпечення незалежності суддів в Україні. Альтернативна доповідь за 2017 рік” (2018) — a major alternative report on the state of judicial independence in Ukraine, co-authored alongside other CPLR experts.
- “Дисциплінарна практика Вищої ради правосуддя щодо суддів” (2018) — a study of the High Council of Justice’s disciplinary practice regarding judges, co-authored with fellow PIC member Maksym Sereda and others.
- Regular contributor to UPLAN reform network publications and policy discussions on judicial reform analytics.
- Advocate certificate suspended from September 20, 2019, based on his own application (Article 31(1)(1) of the Law of Ukraine “On the Bar and Legal Practice”) — a provision typically used when an advocate assumes a public service position incompatible with private practice. The specific position is not confirmed in publicly available sources.
Note on the December 16, 2020 vote. Smaliuk is not among the 15 named voters in the official PIC decision adopting the Crimea-related Indicators. This differentiates him from his CPLR colleague Maksym Sereda (voter №11) and from Anton Marchuk (voter №5, also CPLR second-composition member). The reason for his absence from that specific vote is not documented in public sources, though the voluntary suspension of his advocate certificate in September 2019 may indicate a change in his professional circumstances.
Network & Affiliations#
- Expert at CPLR, which delegated multiple representatives to both PIC compositions. His co-author Maksym Sereda was in both first and second compositions; Anton Marchuk and Roman Kuibida were also CPLR-affiliated second-composition members.
- Part of the analytical strand of the PIC’s CPLR bloc — focused on producing research on judicial governance rather than the advocacy-oriented activism associated with DEJURE or Automaidan-affiliated members.
- His published work on judicial disciplinary practice and independence directly informed the analytical framework underlying the PIC’s integrity methodology, including Crimea-related criteria.
📅 Career Timeline
Centre of Policy and Legal Reform (CPLR / ЦППР) — Kyiv, Ukraine
Public Integrity Council (PIC / ГРД), representing CPLR — Kyiv, Ukraine
Ukrainian National Bar Association (NAAU) — Kyiv, Ukraine
