Politicians always try to avoid responsibility for their statements by convincing the court that it was their personal opinion and they meant something else, not to put pressure on the court to make a particular decision. This opinion was expressed by lawyer Rostyslav Kravets in an exclusive commentary to UNN .
Earlier, Danylo Hetmantsev, the head of the Rada's tax committee, published several posts on 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 Office of the Prosecutor General with a statement about pressure from Hetmantsev and the MP's attempts to influence the court's decisions and interfere in its activities.
Unfortunately, the situation here is really very complicated, because politicians are constantly trying to avoid responsibility by claiming that it was their personal opinion. However, there are cases, including in our practice, when MPs have been brought to justice for statements that put pressure on the court, for insulting the judge, for statements that the judge committed some kind of crime and discrediting the court as a whole
According to him, in some cases, it is necessary to conduct a linguistic examination of MPs' statements in order to prove in court that their words were used to put pressure on the court. At the same time, he said, politicians often try to prove that they meant something different from what they wrote in their posts or stated orally when they are prosecuted.
"Very often, when politicians are brought to court as defendants, they start saying that they didn't mean what they said," Kravets said.
Recall
Denys Neviadomskyi, President of the All-Ukrainian Association of Retired Judges, emphasized that Hetmantsev violates the Criminal Code of Ukraine with such calls. According to him, the MP, in particular, calls for interference in the activities 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 noted 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.