The High Council of Justice has decided that there are no grounds to take measures to ensure the independence of judges and the authority of justice following a complaint by Vitaliy Tsyktych, a judge of the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv, who was pressured and interfered with the court's activities by Danylo Hetmantsev, the head of the Council's tax committee, UNN reports .
"The HCJ received reports from... judge Vitaliy Mykhailovych Tsyktych of the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv... about interference in the activities of judges in the administration of justice... following the results of verification of the reports by members of the HCJ, namely... Hryhoriy Ivanovych Usyk, upon the report... judge of the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv Tsyktych... no facts of interference in their activities as judges, as well as actions that threaten the independence of judges and the authority of justice, were found, and the relevant conclusions were drawn up," HCJ Chairman Hryhorii Usyk said at meeting .
The HCJ upheld these conclusions unanimously - 14 out of 14 members voted in favor. It is worth noting that the vote was a batch vote and concerned the statements of 10 judges at once.
Recall
Earlier, Danylo Hetmantsev, the head of the Rada's tax committee, published several postson his Telegram channel, calling on the public to put pressure on the court and openly criticizing the judges' decisions. Judge of the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv Vitaliy Tsyktych appealed to the High Council of Justice and the Prosecutor General's Office with a statement about pressure from Hetmantsev and the MP's attempts to influence the court's decisions and interfere in its activities.
After that, Hetmantsev published another post in which he criticized the decision of the panel of judges of the Dnipropetrovs'k District Administrative Court. They recognized that the National Bank had made an illegal decision to revoke the license and start liquidating Concord Bank. This is probably how Hetmantsev wanted to influence the judges who will consider the NBU's appeal. Judge Tsiktich told UNNthat the Prosecutor General's Office refused to open criminal proceedings on his application.
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Denys Neviadomskyi, President of the All-Ukrainian Association of Retired Judges, emphasized that Hetmantsev violates the Criminal Code of Ukraine with his calls. According to him, the MP, in particular, calls for interference in the work of the court and violates the presumption of innocence.
Lawyer Dmytro Kasyanenko noted that Hetmantsev's post could be regarded as pressure on the judge and influence on his decision. Lawyer Serhiy Lysenko believes that Hetmantsev is trying to influence the court through public opinion and is taking on the role of a judge, determining which decision of the Themis will be legal in the criminal proceedings on illegal tobacco.