The Prosecutor General's Office refused to open criminal proceedings on the application of Vitaliy Tsyktych, a judge of the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv, regarding pressure and interference in his activities by MP Danylo Hetmantsev, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Tax Committee. Judge Tsyktych said this in an exclusive commentary to a journalist of UNN .
Details
According to Vitaliy Tsyktych, the Prosecutor General's Office did not find sufficient grounds for this based on the facts cited in the judge's statement regarding Hetmantsev.
I received a response from the Office of the Prosecutor General that refused to register my application for pre-trial investigation against Hetmantsev. As far as I understand from the response, the PGO did not find sufficient grounds to open a criminal investigation based on the facts I stated in my application
The judge of the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv also added that he had not received a response to his appeal to the High Council of Justice regarding Hetmantsev's possible illegal actions. Therefore, the judge does not know whether the HCJ has scheduled a hearing on his appeal and when it might take place.
Vitaliy Tsyktych noted that this was the first such case in his judicial practice.
UNN previously received a response from the HCJ to a request for an appeal from Judge Tsyktych. The Council reported that it has not yet scheduled the appeal for consideration. At the same time, if the HCJ considers the judge's arguments regarding the pressure on him sufficient, it may appeal to the Prosecutor General's Office.
Recall
Earlier, Danylo Hetmantsev, the head of the Rada's tax committee, published several posts on his Telegram channel in which he called on the public to put pressure on the court and openly criticized the judges' decisions. Judge Vitaliy Tsyktych of the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv 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.
Denys Neviadomskyi, President of the All-Ukrainian Association of Retired Judges, emphasized that Hetmantsev violates the Criminal Code of Ukraine. 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 noted that Hetmantsev is trying to influence the court through social media 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.
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