Ukraine authorities pursue criminal charges against appellate judge

Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin told journalists on June 22 that he submitted a request to Ukraine’s parliament to remove judicial immunity from the chief judge of the Kyiv Appellate Court, Anton Chernushenko, and to arrest him. He didn’t cite what criminal charges are being pursued but mentioned that prosecutors confiscated from the judge USD 6,500, UAH 30,000, the keys to five cars registered to his relatives and cards for 14 tons worth of gasoline. Chernushenko has declined to reveal the source of these items, Shokin said. Prosecutors also showed journalists how Chernushenko refused to show investigators the document of a ruling he reached, as well as money hidden in his robe.

Acting Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Head Vasyl Hrytsak accused on June 22 Chernushenko of manipulating the appellate court’s computerized system of assigning court cases to judges. The SBU is currently investigating interference in the computerized system of automatic, random assignment of cases, he said. Most courts have a single automatized system yet the appellate court developed its own with the help of a software company, Hrytsak said.  

Zenon Zawada: It’s good to see such investigations of judges being carried out. Yet we live in Ukrainian realities. Far bigger fish have gotten away with far bigger crimes under the watch of the current president. As cynical as it might sound, this looks to us like the president employing his new SBU head to take control of the influential Kyiv Appellate Court and appointing someone loyal there. This would further confirm our view that President Petro Poroshenko is building his power hierarchy and isn’t establishing a personnel policy based on merit and rule of law principles. In this sense, he’s following in the footsteps of his predecessor, which may not bode well for his political prospects.