Judge Tupytskiy fails to appear at prosecutor general’s office

Constitutional Court Chief Justice Oleksandr Tupytskiy
failed to appear at the Prosecutor General’s Office to receive a notice of
suspicion in a criminal case, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported on Dec.
28, citing a source in the office press service. The office said he cited a
family situation as the reason. Instead, the office sent him the notice by mail
and submitted a complaint to the President’s Office to place Tupytskiy on leave
for two months. Tupytskiy has prepared a series of complaints against the
Prosecutor General’s Office in response, the court’s press service said on Dec.
24.

The criminal case against Tupytskiy alleges he bribed
a court witness in October 2018 and deceived a court based on the false
testimony he obtained in an attempt to illegally take control of assets. It is
based on an alleged recording – made by authorities at the Prosecutor General’s
Office and the Security Service of Ukraine – of Tupytskiy asking a businessman
not to testify to his role in the illegal seizure of assets in the Zuyivskiy
Energo-Mechanic Plant. The testimony was requested in the trial of Viktor
Tatkov, a judge in the Higher Economic Court who was accused of stealing the
assets and is in hiding overseas.

The Constitutional Court ruled the same day that the
law doesn’t allow the president to fulfill the Prosecutor General Office’s
request to place Tupytskiy on leave during the investigation and trial of his
criminal case, the court reported on its Facebook page. Such decisions are
exclusively the prerogative of the Constitutional Court, the ruling said.

Zenon Zawada: On the
surface, it’s impressive that the Prosecutor General’s Office is pursuing this
criminal case against Tupytskiy, particularly after it was reported last week
by the Skhemy television news program sponsored by Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty. At the same time, we believe this is being done for that very reason –
as a token procedural response to a crime that drew major publicity.

We are confident that Tupytskiy has the backing of
Ukraine’s pro-Russian forces, particularly since he played a key role in the scandalous Oct. 27 ruling that disrupted Ukraine’s anti-corruption
infrastructure. And by extension, we are confident that Tupytskiy won’t be prosecuted for any alleged crimes because of the “krysha”
that he enjoys, which likely extends into the Prosecutor General’s Office. Any
measures it takes against him are merely for show.